Arab Doctor in Detroit Gave Chemo to 100s of people who were Healthy Patients

[Dan193]

http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/oakland/2015/07/06/farid-fata-court-sentencing/29762499/
Cancer doctor was really just 'a monster'
By Katrease Stafford, Detroit Free Press
July 6, 2015

Lisa Crocenzi doesn't mince words when she describes Dr. Farid Fata, the metro Detroit oncologist who treated her 80-year-old father after he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

"We refer to him as a monster," Crocenzi told the Free Press on Monday outside federal court in Detroit. "My father passed away in 2009 at the hands of Dr. Fata. He took what God gave him as gifts to do good, to do evil."

Crocenzi's father was one of more than 500 victims of Fata, who federal prosecutors say raked in millions of dollars by committing fraud against insurance companies and grossly over-treating hundreds of patients.

Fata, a married father of three and a naturalized U.S. citizen whose native country is Lebanon, pleaded guilty in September to 13 counts of health care fraud, two counts of money laundering and one count of conspiracy to pay and receive kickbacks. He admitted he billed insurers for millions of dollars. Some of his patients didn't even have cancer.

Monday marked the start of a weeklong sentencing hearing for Fata in U.S. District Court. The court heard testimony from an expert witness, Dr. Dan Longo.

Prosecutors are seeking a 175-year sentence, but Fata's attorneys want that lowered to 25 years. It's unclear what day Fata will actually be sentenced.

Victims and their family members will be allowed to read impact statements Tuesday morning after federal Judge Paul Borman decided to allow one person per family 10 minutes to address the court.

Ellen Piligian speaks about her father, a former patient of Dr. Farid Fata, outside federal court, Monday, July 6, 2015, in Detroit. (Photo: Paul Sancya, Associated Press)
For Crocenzi, the pain has never ended and staring Fata in the eyes at court was a cruel reminder of what her family has lost.

"He kept my father on chemotherapy," she said. "My dad had to beg him to remove the infusion pump. I can't help but think would we have had more years with him had he not seen Dr. Fata. Would he not have suffered? It's not just about the fraud, there is no justice."

Fata, 50, who has admitted to reaping millions through the treatments, sometimes gave nearly four times the recommended dosage amount of aggressive cancer drugs, a government witness testified Monday.

Victims cried as Fata, dressed in a business jacket and white shirt, was brought in the courtroom handcuffed. Many of the victims, who banded together and call themselves "The Army of One," rode on a bus to Detroit that had poster on it that read "Life for Fata."

A portion of one victim statement read in court Monday elicited an audible gasp in an overflow room.

According to a statement from a patient known only as "C.C.," the individual was given chemotherapy by Fata over the course of five years. The standard treatment amount is six months.

Feds say metro Detroit cancer doctor's victims top 550

The patient was given 195 chemotherapy treatments, 177 of which were unnecessary, according to the statement.

"The extensive chemo I received has affected my everyday life," the victim wrote, adding that she can no longer do basic functions such as buttoning buttons. "I also have bladder and bowel issues ... and stage three chronic kidney disease."

Fata showed no emotion Monday as Dr. Dan Longo, a Harvard Medical School professor, testified there were "recurring problems identified" in his files and treatment plans.

"The concerns that emerged for me were the use of powerful agents that all have risks associated with them," Longo said. "It seems as though there is an aggressive approach to treating cancer, but this was beyond aggressive. This was over the top."

Longo, who researched some of Fata's work on former patients, said he consistently overused an aggressive drug, Rituxan, and others to treat cancer, placing patients at risk for serious side effects, including death, he said.

"It's a stunning number of injections for that drug," Longo testified.

Longo said patients should not be given any more than 24 doses of Rituxan over the course of several months.

One of Fata's patients, identified only as Patient H.K., received 94 doses, documents showed. Another patient received 112 doses, while others received between 60 and 68 doses.

Fata also gave patients an overwhelming amount of iron, according to government documents.

"I found him using iron in settings where iron deficiencies had not been documented," Longo said. "Iron can be very toxic."

According to prosecutors, Fata's "ultimate goal was to maximize his profit on the backs of patients."

Fata had extensive business holdings, including Michigan Hematology-Oncology, a clinic that received more than $169 million from Medicare and Blue Cross Blue Shield since 2006.

U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade previously called his case the "the most egregious" health care fraud case her office has seen. She said Fata not only bilked the government — which is typical in such cases — but he also harmed patients.

Geraldine Parkin, whose husband Tim Parkin was treated by Fata, plans to give a victim statement Tuesday in court. Her husband was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's large B-cell lymphoma in February 2009. He was sent to Fata for a second opinion and who then gave him 52 chemotherapy treatments over the course of two years. Sixteen is standard.

She said Fata appears to have no remorse for what he's done.

"He (Fata) only looked at us once with a smirk on his face," she said. "After that, he never looked back at us. It was tough, I wanted to walk over there and smack his face. I see no remorse. ... I found strength to give a statement because he looked in my adult children's eyes knowing everything he did, everything he said, it was all a lie."