Doctor Gave Cancer Treatments to People Without Cancer to Make Money
An oncologist in Michigan has been sentenced to more than 40 years in prison for giving people powerful and debilitating cancer treatments for cancers they did not have in order to defraud Medicare.
The Detroit News reports that Dr. Farid Fata was sentenced to 45 years for a scheme that saw him prescribe treatments like chemotherapy, which leaves patients balding and extremely weak, in addition to incredibly expensive cancer drugs that allowed him to charge Medicare and Blue Cross Blue Shield thousands upon thousands of dollars, eventually totaling in the millions. He also received payments from a hospice care facility that he would send his patients to after weakening them so much they and their families could not take care of them themselves.
His sentence is the culmination of a two-year long investigation and trial. The doctor admitted that he may have given these unnecessary treatments to as many as 553 people.
Despite a sentence of 45 years, many of the patients were unhappy with the judge's punishment, and broke down in tears upon hearing the verdict. They were dressed in yellow in solidarity. Many people believe that he deserved a sentence of life in prison, particularly one woman whose husband died while in Fata's care in 2010
Many of the victims also have life-long complications from radiation and chemotherapy treatments they will never recover from. One man had rotting gums and neuropathy, or permanent nerve damage. He must now walk with a cane and has lost all of his teeth but one.
There is an upcoming trial for restitution, but many of the victims felt as though financial rewards would not be enough to overcome their pain and suffering. Fata has already given up $17.6 million to investigators, and also forfeited a number of other assets.
