Healthcare Gone Wrong
After a two-year trial, a Detroit cancer treatment doctor faces 45 years in prison for crimes committed against his patients.
Dr. Farid Fata was sentenced on Friday after collecting from insurance companies, while also subjecting more than 500 of his patients to harmful and unnecessary treatments. Last year, Fata entered a plea of guilty to counts of fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering. Victims submitted testimony of the horrific acts that Fata submitted them under, including accounts of prescribing chemotherapy to otherwise perfectly healthy people.
Fata was in charge of seven Detroit, Michigan-based medical offices, including a cancer treatment clinic and a diagnosis testing facility. It was in these offices that he prescribed these false diagnoses, which included chemotherapy and expensive treatment charges. The total amount of theft from Medicare and other private insurance companies comes to around $35 million, on top of personal damages to patients.
Cancer Treatment Doctor Undergoing Trial
The trial for his crimes began in 2013. and Fata has been on trial since. He entered a plea of guilty, and along with the regulations of his guilty plea, Fata recounted his actions for the court. He admitted to prescribing unnecessary and excessively harsh cancer treatment options, including chemotherapy, to patients in order to increase his profits from fraud of the insurance companies. He also admitted to soliciting kickbacks, or bribery, from local hospices in exchange for referral of patients to further prey on.
In Friday’s sentencing, Fata stated: “I misused my talents, yes, and permitted this sin to enter me because of power and greed,” Fata said. “My quest for power is self-destructive.” Even with his remorseful statement, sentencing judge Paul Borman remained solemn in his reasoning to placing Fata on a proper punishment resulting in his 45 year prison sentence.
Moving Forward
Victims and supporters were satisfied with the outcome of this ordeal, and feel that this will be a step in the right direction to heal from the maleficence that Fata has put them through. Indeed, this trial serves as a lesson to all about being cautious about the malicious practices that once can be put through by professionals that they seek the help of.
