Cancer doctor gave needless chemo in $35M fraud, prosecutors say
Investigators say a popular doctor in Michigan with more than thousand patients was telling people they had cancer even when they didn't, then treating them, all for the money. Prosecutors say he was giving chemotherapy to people who didn't need it, some of whom didn't have cancer at all, as part of an alleged $35 million fraud.
Dr. Farid Fata, a trusted oncologist, preyed on patients to pad his pockets, prosecutors say. Just last week the FBI hauled evidence from his offices in upscale Michigan neighborhoods. The charges against Fata are disturbing: "deliberate misdiagnosis of patients as having cancer," giving "unnecessary chemotherapy," even to "end-of-life patients who will not benefit."
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"If he did commit these crimes, then I think the word 'monster' is a very good description for him," said Jeff Berz, who fears his father, Milton, suffered under Fata's care, prescribed chemotherapy for leukemia. Even as his father's health got worse, Berz said, Fata wouldn't stop chemo, and went to great lengths to administer it.
"My dad would often arrive at Dr. Fata's office, where there was a parking garage, and one of the staff would come out and actually administer the therapy session in my father's car while he's sitting out in the parking garage," Berz said.
Months later, Milton Berz died. Now his son has reached out to prosecutors. "I hate to think that my father was either hurt or had his life shortened by this man if it wasn't necessary," Berz said.