“There is an aggressive approach to treating cancer”.
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Dr Farid Fata, of Detroit, prescribed toxic chemicals that were pumped into otherwise healthy people, all to collect millions of dollars from insurers. When he could profit from it, he also under-treated actual cancer patients. Both sides agreed that more than 550 people were victims.
“I got choked up”, she said.
The prosecution had called for the maximum 175-year sentence.
Though a couple of ex- patients did ask the judge for leniency for Fata, most of the families who spoke relayed heartbreak and stories of permanent changes to their lives as a result of the ex- doctor’s scheme. “You poisoned, tortured and murdered my dad”.
“Prosecutors did a fantastic job – and he got 45 years”. Parole isn’t possible in the federal case, but Fata could be released while he’s still alive because of good behavior while in prison.
Fata said he did not feel as though he deserved a trial. “No matter what happens, nobody wins in this situation”.
Harvard medical professor Dr. Dan Longo said there were a “stunning” number of rigorous treatments that weren’t necessary.
McQuade said her father died of cancer. “And to find out the Neulasta shots were unnecessary, I’m just devastated”.
Be Civil – It’s OK to have a difference in opinion but there’s no need to be a jerk. He admitted he had inflicted needless pain and suffering on more than 500 of his patients. Fatas patients suffered organ damage, lost teeth, have nerve damage and lost bone in sinus cavities, among other ailments.
“Your honor, I stand before you so ashamed of my action”, he said, wiping away tears.
“My suspicion was this is not the only case”, Dr. Soe Maunglay told The Detroit News.
Zaremba said she believes Fata was honest.
“I do think it was a highly sophisticated fraud”. “I had felt pity the first time I saw him come in in shackles”. And the judge, calling Fata’s crimes “huge” and “horrific”, then sentenced Fata to 45 years behind bars. “And that is because of the harm”. The patient reportedly died from his head injury.
Borman had set the sentencing guidelines to 30 years to life on Thursday based on the charges and circumstances.
That tip came on a Friday, McQuade said. Many received a drug called Rituximab. On Friday after sentencing, she applauded the whistleblower office manager who tipped off investigators. The 50-year-old Fata a year ago pleaded guilty to fraud, money laundering and conspiracy. He has been held on $9 million bond since, and his medical license has been suspended.
In this case, the doctor was the enemy in disguise..
The damage Fata amassed with his fraudulent cancer treatments is simply tragic.
Gregory Cadd of White Lake said Fata should’ve gotten double the sentence, and he doesn’t care about getting any money. I can not bring back the past.
“I abused the trust my patients placed in me”. “My sins are many”, he said.
Defense attorney Christopher Andreoff described Fata, a native of Lebanon, as a broken man without family after his wife and children left the US while the case was pending. His family has moved out of the country, and his attorney said he is lonely while incarcerated.
Fata was unintelligible at times, crying through words with a high-pitched voice at certain moments. “I failed them”, Fata told US District Judge Paul Borman, during his sentencing, according to NBC.
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He didn’t visibly react when the sentence was read or when he was handcuffed and escorted from the courtroom.
