A Detroit-area doctor who authorities say gave cancer treatment
drugs to patients who did not need them -- including some who didn't actually
have cancer -- was sentenced Friday to 45 years in prison.
Dr. Farid Fata,
50, pleaded guilty in September to giving cancer treatments to misdiagnosed
patients, telling some they had a terminal blood cancer called multiple
myeloma. He pleaded guilty to 13 counts of Medicare fraud, one count of
conspiracy to pay or receive kickbacks and two counts of money laundering.
Federal
prosecutors called him the "most egregious fraudster in the history of
this country." To Fata, they said, "patients were not people. They
were profit centers."
Fata forfeited
$17.6 million that he collected from Medicare and private insurance companies.
Some 553 patients received medically unnecessary infusions or injections,
prosecutors said.
The
hematologist-oncologist gave an emotional apology in court, saying he was
"ashamed" of his actions.
"I have
violated the Hippocratic oath and violated the trust of my patients," Fata
said, according to CNN affiliate WDIV. "I do not know how I can heal the
wound. I do not know how to express the sorrow and the shame."
But to the
dozens of Fata's victims who filed into U.S. District Court for the Eastern
District of Michigan throughout the week to watch his sentencing, his apology
doesn't matter. Many will live with the effects of his, at times, unnecessary
treatments, for the rest of their lives.
As Geraldine
Parkin, the wife of one former patient said in court, many were "tortured
until their last breaths."
Treated, but not sick
Robert Sobieray went to Fata and was
given chemotherapy treatments for two and a half years. But he never had
cancer.
"It just
gets to me," Sobieray said. "What was the motivation? Why, why me? I
don't know what did I ever do to him."
The chemotherapy
treatments were painful, and made him physically sick. They were so strong that
his teeth fell out and his jaw started to change shape. Years after finding out
he didn't have cancer, he has lost all but one of his teeth.
"With all
the bills piling up, I can't afford to get new teeth," Sobieray said.
"(I) would like to eat a good meal again someday. Like salad, used to love
eating salad. I can't eat that anymore. A lot of things I love I can't eat
anymore."
Patty Hester
went to Fata in 2010 after being recommended by another doctor. Her white blood
cell counts were low, and Fata was a renowned hematologist and oncologist.
"He was,
according to the web page, and according to the fliers, he's world-renowned,"
Hester said. "When you went in his office, he was top doc."
Hester, who
worked in an emergency room at the time, was devastated when Fata told her she
had myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS).
"He said,
'You need to start on chemo, like, immediately,'" Hester recalled.
She was in
disbelief. And after debating with Fata, he instead put her on iron treatments
and, eventually, blood plasma treatments. She was still taking those pricey
plasma treatments the day co-workers made her come to the TV and see the news:
her doctor had been arrested.
Hester did not
have cancer.
'Took full advantage of my trust '
Some of Fata's patients did have various
forms of cancer.
Chris Sneary
faced Fata for the first time since his former doctor's arrest on Tuesday as he
read his victim impact statement in court. He turned to glance at Fata, took a
deep breath and read his story.
Sneary came to
Fata to be treated for testicular cancer from 2010 to 2013. He had 40 days of
chemotherapy, 14 days of hydration therapy and dozens of other treatments and
procedures.
"I gave
full and total trust to this man to get me and my family through this journey I
was about to begin," Sneary said.
Sneary
discovered after Fata's arrest that he'd been given "gross
overtreatment" -- more expensive and harsh chemotherapy than was necessary
and, worse, he had a testicle removed that was medically unnecessary.
"Dr. Fata
took full advantage of my trust in him, my fear of dying and, most of all, my
top of the line health insurance," Sneary said, at times fighting back
tears in court.
And one patient
who did have cancer spoke out in court posthumously. Donald Crabtree's wife,
Marietta, read a statement he wrote back in December last year, before he
passed away.
"None of
the tumors were helped -- they increased in number, they increased in
size," Crabtree read in court. "I believe Dr. Fata knowingly and
purposely treated me for the wrong cancer and gave me the wrong
chemotherapy."
Crabtree said it
was his dying wish for Fata to spend the rest of his life in prison.
Fata apologizes to patients
Before being sentenced, Fata turned to
face those who were at his sentencing and apologized.
"The quest
for power is self-destructive," he said, according to WDIV. "They
came to me seeking compassion and care. I failed. Yes, I failed."
Now some of his
former patients have a chance to file claims and possibly be awarded some of
the funds that he collected from Medicare and insurance companies.
Fata is expected
to serve at least 34 years of his sentence, possibly at a low-security prison
in Michigan.
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