“I was treated by Fata from February 2009 to July of 2013”, wrote ex- patient Tim Parkin Sr.in a victim statement submitted to the court. Twenty-five of them will be given a chance to speak during the hearing, and they are each are given 10 minutes to testify.
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DETROIT (AP) An unusual sentencing hearing is getting underway for a Detroit-area cancer doctor who admits committing fraud against insurance companies and hundreds of patients. He would then charge their insurance companies millions of dollars.
Dr. Farid Fata’s sentencing memo is sealed in Detroit federal court.
Patty Hester was diagnosed with a cancer-like condition called myelodysplastic syndrome by Fata in 2010. Sobieray underwent chemotherapy every month and received radiation therapy for three weeks.
Robert Sobieray, shown with his grandson Will, before unnecessary cancer treatments made his teeth fall out.
According to the complaint, Fata defrauded the federally funded healthcare program out of roughly $35million over a two-year period. A mediport was implanted in his chest, and he was also given over 25 chemotherapy treatments within six months, which was four times the amount given to cancer patients in remission.
“I hope it never happens again to anybody and everybody questions what their doctors are doing”, he added.
“He told me I would die from cancer or a secondary infection”, said Hester, who found out her diagnosis was bogus after Fata’s arrest.
Cheryl Blades said when her mother Nancy LaFrance had a recurrence of lung cancer, the surgeon told her that chemo would not help.
She intends to give a full impact statement “and look [Fata] right in the eye” the way she says the doctor looked at the trusting couple and lied. “He’s depressed”, she says. “His name causes an instant headache”, Sobieray, 62, told NBC News. The government has estimated there are at leat 550 people who were victimized by the doctor.
Fata’s crimes were discovered in 2013 after his business manager George Karadsheh tipped the FBI of his practice.
Fata, who lived in a sprawling mansion in ritzy Oakland Township and ran seven upscale clinics across eastern Michigan, declined to comment through his attorneys.
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“Whether they were cancer or non-cancer patients, solid tumor or liquid, Fata did not discriminate: his ultimate goal was to maximize his profit on the backs of his patients”, federal prosecutors argued in a sentencing memorandum. The prosecution did not offer Farid a deal and meant to see the judge hit him with the toughest possible sentence – 175 years, or the rest of his natural life.
