CNN 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.
"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." [...]
update his wife allegedly fled to Lebanon with $10s M.
CBS News The government says a man who took an oath to do no harm instead turned more than 500 of his patients into victims in a shocking case of medical fraud.
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.
update his wife allegedly fled to Lebanon with $10s M.
Additional background information
CBS News The government says a man who took an oath to do no harm instead turned more than 500 of his patients into victims in a shocking case of medical fraud.
Courtroom sketches could not adequately capture the anguish of the
victims Tuesday as one by one, they confronted the cancer doctor who
prescribed aggressive chemotherapy for patients he knew were not ill,
and for those who were, ordering treatments that were excessive while
billing medicare $34 million. [...]
Fata has already pleaded guilty
to fraud and other charges. A memo from prosecutors demanding a life
sentence said Fata would tell his patients they risked death without
him. Telling one: "Your life or your money."
From Laura Stedtefeld, whose father died in Fata's care: "You poisoned, tortured and murdered my dad."[..]
A good question is how he got away with this and the answer is Dr. Fata
was a well-respected physician backed up by other well-respected
physicians and a prominent local hospital. But it was a doctor who
worked for him, who ultimately blew the whistle on his actions.
Willing to bet that, despite the Detroit area's huge Chaldean and Moslem population, you will not not find a single arab-sounding name among the 550 listed victims.
ReplyDeleteIn other words, willing to bet that non-Arabs were targeted, which would make an interesting point to raise at sentencing.
That would be something if it were true. But without a list of names, it's completely speculative.
ReplyDeleteAll I could find was one of the court exhibits that had victim statements.
ReplyDelete(Didn't notice any Arab-sounding names)
http://www.justice.gov/usao-edmi/file/623461/download
Sucker. His wife will live the good life while he, well I'll leave the rest alone.
ReplyDelete