Doctoring the Truth
Welcome to Doctoring the Truth, a podcast where two dedicated audiologists dissect the world of healthcare gone rogue. Explore jaw-dropping stories of medical malfeasance, nefariousness, and shocking breaches of trust. The episodes provide deep dives that latch onto your curiosity and conscience. It's a podcast for truth-seekers craving true crime, clinical insights, and a dash of humor.
Doctoring the Truth
Betrayal in the White Coat: The Rise and Fall of Dr. Fata
What happens when a trusted physician turns into one of the most notorious fraudsters in American history? Join us for a chilling exploration of Dr. Farid Tanios Fata's shocking descent from a respected oncologist to a convicted criminal guilty of healthcare fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy. We'll uncover the disturbing details of how Dr. Fata's actions betrayed the trust of his patients, causing irreparable harm and leading many to question the integrity of the medical profession itself.
Our investigation takes you deep into the criminal proceedings that led to Dr. Fata's downfall. Led by George and supported by testimonies from medical professionals like Dr. Mongole, the inquiry revealed a web of deceit, where unnecessary chemotherapy and misdiagnoses were tools for financial gain. Despite his arrest and a 45-year sentence, questions about the adequacy of his punishment and his wife Samar's escape to Lebanon linger, leaving behind a complex and unresolved narrative that continues to haunt the victims.
Hear the heart-wrenching stories of patients who fell victim to Dr. Fata's greed, enduring emotional and physical turmoil due to unwarranted treatments and false hope. These stories are a sobering reminder of the profound violation of trust that can occur in healthcare and the devastating impact on those who believed in a doctor's care. As we examine the broader implications of medical fraud, we stress the urgent need for vigilance and ethical practice to prevent such betrayals in the future.
Sources used in this episode include the following:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/19WIFuFgYhjrU9BLP9K1ECBNJTJ-HpjEDiKTDBLM4BiM/edit?usp=sharing
ABC News
NBC News
https://www.justice.gov/usao-edmi/file/623461/dl
https://www.fcacounsel.com/blog/it-takes-a-whistleblower-farid-fata/
Don't miss a (heart) beat! Check out our Instagram @doctoringthetruth and email us your story ideas at doctoringthetruth@gmail.com. Don't forget to download, rate and review so we can keep bringing you more exciting content each week!
Stay safe, and stay suspicious...trust, after all is a delicate thing!
Hello, hello, hello.
Speaker 2:Amanda, how are you doing? Hey girl, I am. I'm good, but also I had just a long day. How are you?
Speaker 1:Oh well, um, I had less of a long day because I called in sick, because, well, I actually am sick, but because it's your turn, um, I can take a little back seat and hit the cough mic when I need to. But we appreciate you had a really long day, but I know you have a really excellent case to cover. Oh yeah, and I know our listeners.
Speaker 2:I'm still super excited to go over this. Sorry, you're sick, tis the season.
Speaker 1:It is right, everybody's got the yucks, but I just wanted to say that we've been getting a lot of feedback on our Gmail and on our website and on our Instagram and people are excited about what you're bringing up, and I promised my sister, bethany, who's a nurse, that I'd give her a shout out because she wants us to do an episode on nefarious nurses and I'm a lover of alliteration. So thanks, bethany, hey.
Speaker 2:Bethany. Shout out Bethany.
Speaker 1:So what you got for us?
Speaker 2:All right. So today I have a fraud case, so there's not really any disclaimers or trigger warnings, unless fraud is a trigger for you. Got it All right. So, yes, we're going to be covering a fraud case today. I'll be putting any sources in our show notes, because there were a lot. So get ready and buckle up your seatbelts, because when I originally thought we're doing a fraud case boring and then I started researching and I was like holy cats, this guy's a monster, you guys.
Speaker 2:So it's not boring as I originally thought it might be. So, yes, again, buckle up. Here we go, zero to 60. Here we go, all right. So today we're covering the health care fraud case of Dr Farid Tanios Fata. Dr Fata was convicted of 13 counts of health care fraud, conspiracy to pay or receive kickbacks and money laundering. Fata has been described by federal prosecutors as one of the most fraudulent physicians in American history. Oh, my goodness, I've never heard of him. I know I hadn't heard of him either. The scope of his healthcare fraud is so extensive that Michigan federal prosecutor Barbara McQuaid called him the quote biggest fraudster in the history of the United States end quote. And even went as far to say quote he's worse than Bernie the United States end quote. And even went as far to say, quote he's worse than Bernie Madoff end quote. Wow. And for those of you who don't know who Bernie Madoff is, he is known for orchestrating the largest Ponzi scheme in history, valued at $65 billion dollars. However, fata's actions went far beyond financial damages. He caused severe harm to his patients, leading to lives destroyed by unnecessary treatments and painful procedures. So for today's case, I'll be giving you an overview of Fata's background, his career, crime and conviction, and then we'll end with how this all impacted his patients. I can't wait, so let's get into it.
Speaker 2:Farid Fata was born into a Greek Catholic family in 1965 in the village of Fershima, babda district, which is in Lebanon. In 1983, he began his medical studies at St Joseph University, where he would study for three years before continuing his training at the Lebanese University. He graduated from medical school in 1992 and took the Hippocratic Oath before the Lebanese Medical Association, where he pledged to uphold principles such as patient care, confidentiality and the commitment to do no harm. Hmm, we'll see. Yeah, following graduation, he immigrated to the United States to specialize in oncology. His medical training was obviously extensive. After completing his residency at Brooklyn's Maimonides Maimonides Maimonides, maimonides, ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma in this case, that I didn't know how to say so I was like you.
Speaker 2:Just say them fast. It's going to be fine. That's right. If any listener wants to write in a correction for us, please let me know. We're happy to learn. So, brooklyn Maimonides Medical Center. He went on to work at the renowned Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. By 1999, fata moved to Pennsylvania to work at Geisinger Medical Center before opening his own practice, michigan Hematology Oncology, or MHO, which I'll call it for the rest of the case in 2003 in Rochester Hills, michigan. Dr Fata was ambitious and eager to make a big reputation for himself in the medical field. He was noted to be very charismatic and loved by all of his patients and because of this, fata's practice grew rapidly. In just eight years, he expanded his reach, establishing seven clinics and several related enterprises under that name Michigan Hematology Oncology MHO. In addition to these clinics, he also established the Michigan Radiation Institute, mri. Okay, come on.
Speaker 1:MRI, can you do that?
Speaker 2:Thopta, I know.
Speaker 1:Really Like trademark. That's cheeky yeah.
Speaker 2:So MRI specialized in radiotherapy, obviously an in-house pharmacy called Vital Pharmacare and a diagnostic testing center named United Diagnostics. So this guy was busy.
Speaker 1:My goodness, I'm tired just thinking about it, I know.
Speaker 2:He was successful in building the strong reputation that he always desired, which was further bolstered by his philanthropic work. His reputation as a top oncologist continued to grow, drawing more and more patients. Oh, okay, pause.
Speaker 1:No, no, no, no, no, that's not possible.
Speaker 2:Per day. How is that?
Speaker 1:possible? How can you even?
Speaker 2:say hi to that many people? Oh well, this was made possible by meticulously planned eight-minute appointments. Are we starting to see the issue here, oh my goodness, oh my goodness.
Speaker 1:Okay, I'm going to save it to the end, but I have some issues with that yes. Carry on.
Speaker 2:Patients would recount that they may wait up to eight hours before their consultation with him, which would only last maybe a couple of minutes.
Speaker 1:They'd sit in the waiting room for eight hours. Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:Some said you know two to three hours, Some said up to eight hours, but yeah, I would, okay, listen.
Speaker 1:next time I have a patient that complains that I'm running like five, ten minutes late, I'm going to be like you know what? This is nothing.
Speaker 2:You haven't heard of Dr Fata, have you? So, in addition to his medical ventures, fata founded the Fata Foundation in 2008, which aimed to donate to charitable causes. Four years later, he extended its reach to Lebanon, setting up an office there. He seemed to have it all success, reputation and wealth. However, his desire for wealth led him down a dark path, my friends, that we are about to unravel.
Speaker 1:Are you good, my computer died. Keep going, oh, okay.
Speaker 2:I just gotta find where I stopped. Oh my god, where am I? Okay, I'd like to mention that somewhere along the way, fata was married to a Samar Fata, who was also from Lebanon. Together, they had three children. There is very little information accessible online regarding his now ex-wife and their children, but we'll make a note about that later on. Fata's fraudulent practices came to light when it was revealed that he was intentionally misdiagnosing patients, prescribing chemotherapy when it was unnecessary and continuing treatments for patients in remission.
Speaker 1:Oh, my, oh, I'm going to cry. It's just, it's tragic. It's really hard for me not to interject here. I'm already steaming mad, and we've only just begun.
Speaker 2:It's wild. In some cases, he administered harmful treatments to terminally ill patients despite knowing that they were beyond help. Between 2007 and 2013, fata performed over 9,000 medically unnecessary infusions and injections, harming at least 553 patients. He also falsified medical records to shield his actions and prevent patients from seeking second opinions. In the investigation, a medical expert quoted that the average oncologist buys pay close attention here. The average oncologist buys $1.5 million of drugs per year. Mho's three doctors spent $45 million a year on medication. So tell me they were not administering more medication than they needed to.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, this guy is evil.
Speaker 2:I know. So, to ward off suspicions, fata deceived those around him by claiming that his treatments were quote part of a revolutionary European or French protocol. End quote.
Speaker 1:Yeah, do the French know this? They'd say men, no, I don't see it.
Speaker 2:Do we? Maggie Dorsey was one of many victims of FATA. Dorsey had been diagnosed with cancer by FATA in 2005, and she underwent seven months of chemotherapy before discovering you know what, that she didn't even have cancer at all.
Speaker 1:What.
Speaker 2:The chemotherapy she later learned had been completely unnecessary and left her suffering severe side effects, including osteoporosis and neuropathy. Two years later, she filed a complaint against Fata, so she was the first one to complain and like try to take him to court. Unfortunately, the case sold out in court without Fata taking any ownership of any wrongdoing, and we'll hear a little more of her statements later. And we'll hear a little more of her statements later.
Speaker 2:Seasoned nurses that worked at MHO noticed serious deviations from standard oncology protocols. They raised suspicions that Fata was motivated by profit, prolonging treatments for the sole purpose of administering higher doses of medications. Despite raising the concerns, the clinic supervisors dismissed all the claims. In 2010, Angela Swantek, who was a nurse there, reported to the state authorities that she believed Fata was pumping patients with drugs in hour-long chemotherapy sessions that should normally last much shorter periods, which allowed him to prescribe unnecessary high volumes of drugs. She reported that she believed him to be deliberately billing patients' insurance companies for more money. She did not get a response from authorities until 2011, when she got a letter from the Bureau of Health Professions, of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs stating you know, there was no evidence to support an investigation into Fata, so his fraudulent practices continued to be undetected until 2013.
Speaker 1:Okay, so how many years was this? When did this start? 2007.
Speaker 2:No, yes, 2007. So six years of basically killing and torturing people yeah, already okay so, um, and like people were trying, right, they, he was taken to court. Yeah it was settled out in court nurses were going to the higher-ups. That was all dismissed.
Speaker 1:Well, he had enough money to just buy his way out of it. Yeah Right, yeah Well, it gets worse. So great, I'll hold on to my pants. Here we go 2013.
Speaker 2:was that turning point, like I said? So that comes the case of Monica Flagg. In 2013, fata diagnosed 54 year old Monica with multiple myeloma, which is a condition that required a lifetime of chemo if she wished for any chance of survival. On July, 1st, hours after her first round of chemotherapy, she broke her leg in two places when she was leaving Fata's clinic.
Speaker 1:As she was walking out, yeah.
Speaker 2:So that's that, as she was walking out. Yeah, so that guy I know. So this is how the turning point comes in, though. So she broke her leg in two places and then was admitted to the hospital for surgery, where another oncologist, dr so Mungley, reviewed her records and discovered, hey, she didn't have cancer at all.
Speaker 1:Coincidentally, though, dr Mungale had previously worked at MHO, so he already had some suspicions about this Fata guy. He was skinny. Is that why he left? Well, you're going to tell us? Yeah, I'm going to tell you.
Speaker 2:So in 2012, we're talking about Mungale he began working at Dr Fata's private cancer practice in Michigan. During his tenure, he observed several irregularities in patient care that raised big concerns about the unethical and fraudulent practices in Fata's clinics, including over-diagnosing patients and administering unnecessary treatments. In addition to these suspicions, dr Mongole had also caught Fata lying about the clinic's enrollment in a professional quality program, which led him to assume that he must be up to some sort of insurance fraud. Yeah, so Dr Mongole was ultimately fired by Fata after bringing these concerns to him, of course. Um, so after you do what was that?
Speaker 1:I mean as you do right yeah yeah, he doesn't want to be called on the on the carpet for anything, but when wasn't he worried that he was going to get you know told on?
Speaker 2:well, you know, one would think. But also one doesn't usually think of misdiagnosing people with cancer and treating them for that either. So I can't really say what was going on in his noggin, but I would have been worried.
Speaker 1:God, complex, yeah, for real, the very least Arrogant.
Speaker 2:So Dr Munglase fired. He's now working at the hospital. He meets Monica, discovers she doesn't have cancer. So that prompted him to start a little investigation of his own. So he met Monica. She was healthy and he began reviewing other patients' records and uncovered numerous cases of unethical conduct. He then teamed up with MHO employee George Kardashian who also started an investigation.
Speaker 1:I thought you were going to say Kardashian. I'm so sorry to interrupt. I thought you were going to say Kardashian. I was like, wow, I'm sorry.
Speaker 2:George, if you ever, ever listen to this, for whatever reason, if this happens upon your podcast, listen list.
Speaker 2:I know I didn't say your last name wrong and I'm so sorry. There are definitely extra letters in there. Okay, so George started his own investigation as well. So George was the office manager for MHO and he had been suspicious of Fata as well, because several clinical staff and other doctors began giving their notice without explanation and leaving the practice. What is a sign of a bad boss? Well, there can be a lot, but if your staff is leaving, your place is hemorrhaging without notice, probably something will not.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that doesn't say Right, that doesn't say loyalty, and gosh, gosh. This is a great place to live, but I gotta goodbye. Yeah in, yeah red red flags flying everywhere.
Speaker 2:Yep, yep, yeah. So george had asked, you know. So george and dr mongolay have have teamed up now, and so george asked dr mongolay why he left, and he told him that fata kept insisting on aggressive chemo regimens, even when it wasn't necessary. So then George began interviewing several other staff. The first red flag that he had noticed was the treatment to consultation ratio was extremely different from all the other doctors that worked there. Dr Mongole suggested that George also look into Fata's use of IVIG. A nurse had previously reported to Mongole that she discovered that in one week 38 out of 40 patients did not need or did not qualify for this drug at all. Dr Mongole disclosed these findings to George, and George took his findings to the Detroit office of the FBI. Yes, you did.
Speaker 1:Yes, he did.
Speaker 2:Claps for George Yay, georgie. So then took it to the FBI, sued FATA, mho and several related entities under the False Claims Act on August 5th 2013. Act on August 5th 2013.
Speaker 1:Which brings us to August 6th 2013, when Fata was finally arrested. And that's the end of the story.
Speaker 2:right, yeah, he said sorry and he paid everyone back and everyone lived happily and healthily ever after. Thanks for coming, everybody, everybody. By this time, Fata had treated over 16,000 patients, many of whom had undergone unnecessary treatments, and he was still actively treating another 1,700.
Speaker 1:Oh my goodness.
Speaker 2:So two years later, on July 10, 2015,. He was convicted of deliberately making false diagnoses and prescribing unnecessary treatments with the aim of enriching himself by defrauding the American insurance companies. He was convicted on 16 counts, including 13 counts of health care fraud, and was sentenced to 45 years in prison.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I don't even know if that's enough. I know Barbara McQuaid, the federal prosecutor, wanted him to have about 175 years, but they went with the least amount of years, unfortunately, of course. But he won't be. He won't get out until he's 85 years old, okay, which still he should have got more, anyway. So federal investigators had evidence that he had bullied or deceived, like I said, 553 people into getting chemotherapy treatments that they did not need, causing the insurance companies and Medicare to pay $34 million in fraudulent and unnecessary claims. They also found that he took kickbacks from two local hospices and poured Medicare and private insurance company proceeds into his own diagnostic testing facility where he ordered unnecessary tests, because he's a big puke.
Speaker 1:Oh, my goodness.
Speaker 2:He was ordered to pay $17.6 million in restitution, later adjusted to $26.5 million, to his victims.
Speaker 1:Is that it? I know? What about the $34 million in fraud? Okay, all right, I'm going to be quiet.
Speaker 2:I know Barbara was upset too. We stand with you, Barbara.
Speaker 1:Babs.
Speaker 2:We feel you. Babs was upset too. We stand with you, barbara babs. We feel you. Um, oh, shout out to babs from our old office if she ever hears this, right. Um, he won't be eligible for release until december 11th 2050. He's currently serving his sentence in uhters, south Carolina.
Speaker 1:I hope it's salty there.
Speaker 2:I know me too Reap what you so sucka Right. So it was during the final hearing that Fata finally admitted to his wrongdoings, saying quote I knew it was medically useless, end quote, acknowledging the harm he caused and that he was quote terribly ashamed end quote, acknowledging the harm he caused and that he was, quote terribly ashamed end quote. Do we believe him? But was he, though? Because in May of 2018, he requested that his guilty plea be tossed because he received poor legal advice that resulted in his guilty plea and that he has always maintained his innocence resulted in his guilty plea and that he has always maintained his innocence?
Speaker 1:He stated in the filing my guilty pleas were not the result of my actually being guilty. Okay, all right. Yes, goodness.
Speaker 2:From day one to present, I have steadfastly maintained my innocence.
Speaker 1:End quote Dude, you said you knew it was medically useless. Those were quotes from your face. I mean, what are you ashamed of then, if you didn't do something wrong?
Speaker 2:Okay, so you know just so you know, he has also filed appeals several times, all of which have been denied Denied. So you may be wondering about that wife and kids that I mentioned earlier. Well, little is known about their lives or their current whereabouts. What I did find was that Samar so his wife or ex-wife served as the chief financial officer for his business. It is suspected that she played a significant role in the operations. I mean, how could she not, while serving in that role and benefiting firsthand from the financial gain? Right, I mean seriously.
Speaker 2:Her exact whereabouts are somewhat unclear, but there have been reports suggesting that she's currently in Lebanon. Don't know for sure as of now. She has not faced any charges related to the crimes committed by her ex-husband, um, and she's remained largely out of the public eye. Reports indicate that samar's flight to lebanon came after fata's arrest and it's believed she left with the intention of escaping the fallout of his crimes. No kidding, I mean, right. No kidding. Husband's arrested for all these crimes you've been benefiting from, so you're skipping across the pond she grabbed an armful of his ill-gotten gains and skedaddled back to the Middle East.
Speaker 1:Yeah, she said, see ya, see ya, sorry about you being ya?
Speaker 2:Yeah, the authorities in the US have not been able to pursue any charges against her and she's not been involved in any legal proceedings related to the fraud. As for their three children, they were reportedly taken with her when she fled the United. States Naturally makes sense you would take your children with you. They have also remained out of the public spotlight and I literally could not find anything about them online, and I feel like we are good at finding things online. Yeah, I couldn't find anything.
Speaker 1:That's probably for the best, but.
Speaker 2:I think it's good that their identities have been kept private.
Speaker 1:Um, it's really not fair to them to be publicly involved in the case, given the nature of the scandal yeah, would you be proud of your papa if he uh committed some of this, even a tenth of this fraud?
Speaker 2:no, and no, and I wouldn't want that shadow following me around for the rest of my life, and I don't know how old they were when they left or anything.
Speaker 1:So yeah well, inshallah, nearbick, um, they are doing well and um in spite of everything their father and, allegedly, mother may have done yes, we hope you are doing so well.
Speaker 2:Um so, anyway, that brings us to our chart note segment, where we learn about what's happening in medicine and healthcare. Chart note chart note.
Speaker 1:We need a jingle for this, Amanda.
Speaker 2:So when I was trying to choose what I was going to do for the chart note section, honestly all I had in my mind was fraud, and so this case had me wondering what the prevalence of fraudulent billing was, specifically for telehealth services, following pandemic. Oh yeah, good one. So of course, there was a massive spike in telehealth services offered while we were in the trenches of that pandemic, and thank goodness that providers were know. Providers were able to continue providing services to the patients that were in need Love it. But there was, of course, an increased potential for fraudulent activities. So through my research, I found one company in particular that is guilty of just this. So this is like kind of a mini case. Slash chart note.
Speaker 2:And this research comes from the United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California, so the company is called Dunn Global Incorporated. Have you heard of it? I have not, I had not either. Well, anyway, the founder and CEO of Dunn Global Incorporated. Have you heard of it? I have not, I had not either. Well, anyway, the founder and CEO of Dunn Global Incorporated, ruthia he, and its clinical president, david Brody, were arrested for allegedly running a scheme to distribute Adderall and other stimulants over the internet, commit healthcare fraud and obstruct justice.
Speaker 1:Wait what? What's their number? You know the shortage of Adderall out there.
Speaker 2:They have been shut down.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay, I better shut up and listen to the rest of this story.
Speaker 2:You missed this boat.
Speaker 1:And I say this as a person with ADHD, not a drug seeker.
Speaker 2:You're like oh, something shiny. What's their phone number? So they are accused of exploiting telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic, making over $100 million in revenue by prescribing over 40 million pills.
Speaker 1:Is that why they're seriously? Is that why there's a problem getting ADHD meds? I don't know.
Speaker 2:That's a good question. Damn it done 40 million pills.
Speaker 1:That's a lot yeah. Jeez man.
Speaker 2:The duo allegedly targeted drug seekers spent millions on deceptive ads and structured their platform to maximize profits through quick consultations and auto refills. They are also accused of defrauding Medicare, medicaid and pharmacies and obstructing, you know, federal investigations. So just casual little crimes.
Speaker 1:What were they doing? Like flushing the stuff down the toilet, like burn the ovens.
Speaker 2:Stuff down the toilet, like. Burn the oven. Um, I will note that and sorry if you just heard my dog bark, but, um, I will note that this ruth ruthia, he, she has no medical background. Oh, nope, she, uh where's my little?
Speaker 1:she was wait. She was working for done she um or she investigator her job. She worked for facebook doing like social marketing ads for facebook oh, okay oh, product designer for facebook okay, so that qualifies her to prescribe right yeah, so good thing she was.
Speaker 2:You know, prescribing medications oh my goodness yes, um, so don't do that, sister. If two are charged, they face up to 20 years in prison. Is that it? That's it. I mean there might be more, but I was like I can't throw another whole case into a case. We'll be here all day, so it's a mini case. I love that, yeah.
Speaker 1:Thank you for sharing that Welcome. I learned.
Speaker 2:Back to the story.
Speaker 1:In spite of myself, even though I don't have Adderall, I managed to learn something. Thank you, you're welcome. Happy to help.
Speaker 2:All right. So back to our story of Dr Fata. Many of his patients, or rather victims and their family members, were given the opportunity to share victim impact statements at the hearing. Ooh yeah, and these statements are all available online through court documents. There were 79 statements read at the hearing. Oh my God, how long did that take. There were 25 pages of statements.
Speaker 1:I hope you took notes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so obviously we don't have time to go through all of them today, but the statements were broken down into different categories and there were 17 categories.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:So I'll just tell you what the categories are and then I wanted to at least share one from each category so we could, you know, kind of end and highlight on the victims rather than the slime ball known as FATA. So the different categories were multiple myeloma patients, myodysplastic Syndrome, which is MDS patients, root toxin patients, zometa patients. One category was titled Other Unnecessary Chemotherapy Confirmed by Second Opinion Doctors. There were seven of those. The next category was Other Unnecessary Treatments as Confirmed by Second Opinion Doctors. Those were just really long titles so I wanted to make sure no one thought I was just on a run-on sentence.
Speaker 2:Another category was giving chemo and false hopes to end-of-life patients and their families. Those ones were very, very sad and there were 12 of those. Oh, my heart hurts, I know, I know. Guardian angel Unnecessary iron, lying about availability of stem cell transplants, patient not informed about risk of becoming sterile, frightening patients into chemotherapy Undiagnosed Nope, that's not correct. Hang on, let me reverse United diagnostic PET scan fraud, short office visits, loss of faith in doctors, financial impact and, last but not least, overwhelming feeling of guilt experienced by family members of patients.
Speaker 1:Oh, my goodness. I can't imagine. The families as well.
Speaker 2:Some of these are long, some are short, but let's end on highlighting these victims. So we mentioned patient Maggie Dorsey earlier. She was the one that was told she had cancer, did not have cancer and then she was the first one to take him to court, and this is what she had to say. After unnecessary chemotherapy I started off bedridden with unbearable pain. I went to a walker, then a four-pronged cane.
Speaker 2:I have a paralysis of two and a half toes on my left foot. I have peripheral neuropathy in both hands and both feet. I am unable to eat with regular utensils. Only plastic wear may touch my mouth or enter in. I stopped being able to comb my daughter's hair when she needed me the most. I couldn't care for my own either. I couldn't attend the functions for my children's sports.
Speaker 2:I have bad tics and tremors in my hands. I have unbearable pain at the point of touch that it feels like a thousand bee stings. My feet ache, percolate, causing level 10 pain 80 to 90% of the day, no matter what I'm doing. I have days where I cannot stand nor even lay down comfortably. Most nights the pain is too great to allow me to sleep. I am on lots of medication and even with all that. It takes only the edge off, just enough to keep me from going insane or crying incessantly. I didn't deserve to end up like this, though I'm still alive with love and many thanks. Some days when the pain is too great, I close my eyes, longing for the relief of heaven.
Speaker 1:Oh, my god, maggie, oh, this just makes me want to just break down right now and bawl my eyes out I know I did just cry reading right now and bawl my eyes out.
Speaker 2:I know I did just cry reading some of them. They're so sad.
Speaker 1:Maggie.
Speaker 2:The next one is from patient Marianne Gersak. I began chemo treatment after Farid Fata diagnosed me with MDS or myodysplastic syndrome. Me with MDS or myodysplastic syndrome. I received iron shots, then two-hour IV to remove iron that can cause organ damage. I do have MDS. On September 3rd 2013, I was told by a new doctor I never should have been on chemo, only have had weekly blood work done. Fata said I'd be getting chemo for the rest of my life.
Speaker 1:Of course he did the jerk. He wanted to make money off of that.
Speaker 2:The next is from Diane Soggle, who is a widow of a patient. My husband was told by Fata that he could help him by being treated with a chemo Vadesia. My husband supposedly had a low blood count and was diagnosed with myodysplasia, a blood disorder that could lead to leukemia. After three treatments in three days and life support for 10 days after a heart attack, my husband was gone. I have been told by two doctors that, with what my husband had, the treatment would have been to watch and observe before giving such an aggressive treatment.
Speaker 2:Patient Steven Skirspizak Sorry, steven, I was a patient of Farid Fada's for six years. He had diagnosed me with B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma that I never had. I underwent years of unnecessary treatments. I started treatment in March of 2011 with a medicine slash chemo called Trianda and Rituxan along with other medications, and Rituxan along with other medications. In February 2013, I was in remission. He informed me that I would have to take Rituxan for six weeks on and then six weeks off to keep the cancer in remission. I had 18 weeks of treatment with this medication before he got arrested. I went to get a second opinion by two different oncologists. Both told me I never had cancer and should never have been treated for it. One of the doctors told me, even if I was in remission, the most Rituxan I should have been given would be nine treatments over a year's time. I received approximately 18 treatments in a six-month period. At Fata's suggestion, I had a metaport surgically inserted in my chest. I was told by my new oncologist that I did not need it and had it removed.
Speaker 1:Bless your heart, Stephen.
Speaker 2:Ellen Pilligan, a daughter of a patient. I took my father for a second opinion at the University of Michigan. The doctor there said the first chemo protocol was not necessarily unreasonable but the second line chemo protocol that he put my father on was essentially insane. He could not believe that anyone would put my father on those drugs. We stayed with Fata to continue with injections of Zometa and Xgeva. An oral surgeon refused to touch my father because of the high chance that my dad could have osteonecrosis or bone death of the jaw. With the slightest dental work, meaning so much as pulling a tooth or filling a cavity, could cause his jaw to start melting away like wet plaster a side effect of this drug.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, and it was all senseless, yeah, and we know how important oral care is to the rest of your health. Like right, so you had this unnecessary treatment that now is prohibiting you from getting oral care.
Speaker 1:This guy. There was a special place in hell for him.
Speaker 2:I swear Michelle Manariano, daughter of a patient. He stated that my mother had a very aggressive cancer that would become untreatable if she stopped chemo and then he wouldn't be able to save her. I now know he told this to many patients. He diagnosed my mom with breast cancer. Sadly, I now know that the chemotherapy drug he had used during the last month of her life wasn't even a drug used for breast cancer. What he had her on a 24-hour drip for a drug used for patients with colon cancer, all in the name of greed. Several times when I researched and questioned his treatment, he asked if I had fellowshiped at Sloan Kettering like he had.
Speaker 1:Oh, excuse me, oh, I am so, amanda, what are you doing to us? I just want to. I don't know what I want to do. I want to cry, I want to throw up and I want to throw hands against this guy, I know, I know that's why I was.
Speaker 2:I started researching this, like I said, and I'm like fraud, boring. And then I was like no, this guy's an absolute monster.
Speaker 1:I just I've never, yeah, yeah, I've never yeah, yeah, okay oh my goodness, Harvey Hammond, son of a patient.
Speaker 2:I began looking for another doctor for my mother. He immediately changed her treatment. The new doctor told us that Fata had been treating her for three years using a medication that should only be used for a short time up to three months and that it was doing nothing to correct her condition, only to mask her symptoms this next statement is from a family of a patient.
Speaker 2:Our mother was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer. It had already metastasized to her lungs, her, her liver and her sternum. In that very first meeting with Fata he said I can cure you. He indicated that he had access to medication and others, or medications that other doctors did not.
Speaker 1:Right, yep, sure, you do. Well, yeah, it's that.
Speaker 2:European protocol, you know. He indicated that as long as she followed her instructions and kept her insurance paid up, she could be cured.
Speaker 2:I mean that's key right there, oh yeah keep your insurance up, so I can get the benefits exactly bata had instilled so much false hope of a cure over the months of seeing him. He reminded her that she would die without him. We were wondering if there was any reason to file bankruptcy. Questioning her life expectancy, he indicated again that he was trying a new therapy and we should definitely file bankruptcy on her behalf. Quote but make certain you do not cancel any of her insurance. I won't be able to treat her without end. Quote. He told us.
Speaker 1:I'm sorry, I'm over, he told us. I'm sorry. I'm over here silently screaming and grinding my teeth. How many more of these can we take listening to? And this is just a small slice of what this man did to families. Amanda, why did you do?
Speaker 2:that. So then the family says we asked about hospice. He stated that our discussion of hospice was unnecessary, as he had access to so many more drug therapies that she would be around for a long time. He then held her hand, looked straight into her eyes and gently said quote, don't worry, I will not let them stop the treatments that you need. End quote. I'm sorry, excuse my French, but are you fucking kidding me?
Speaker 1:Can you be more evil than this guy? They're honestly serial killers. He makes serial killers look like angels. How dare he hold her hand and lie in her face while he's profiting off of her? Basically torture and her family's?
Speaker 2:grief and everything that he's killing right at the beginning that she had her. It was metastasized to her lungs, her brain, her liver, her sternum, like I mean the false hope is insane.
Speaker 1:that's cruel, it's the cruelest.
Speaker 2:So he's lying to her face now and then they say she was very angry at us for the discussion that had just taken place. In addition to everything else he was doing, he was also coming between our mother and us. Maybe she would have participated in more life, knowing that it was nearing the end. She kept putting things off, thinking that she would have time quote when she got better. End quote. Oh, our mother was never able to accept that she was dying because fata convinced her that she was not. We never had the benefit of final conversations. We should have been able to have to say the things we wanted to say. Excuse me, as I have full body chill bumps. Oh, I'm crying. That's so sad. Oh, Okay.
Speaker 2:Sydney Zaremba, daughter of a patient. When he said we should go to hospice, he insisted we use Guardian Angels Hospice and when we didn't, he washed his hands of our dear mom. Not a day goes by that I don't feel guilt. I only have a picture to apologize to now.
Speaker 1:What? Oh, if you don't go to the place where I get a kickback, then screw you. Yeah, then goodbye, Amanda. I don't know how much more of this I can take, I know yeah you guys.
Speaker 2:There are a few more, but there's only one more long one, and this is the long one, and this is I mean they're all tragic.
Speaker 1:It's important. It's important for us to know.
Speaker 2:It's important, I feel like we needed to spend equal at least an equal amount of time talking about these stories as just like the overview of the puke slime ball right. Um. So this writer requested to stay anonymous. And again, this is a long one. Um. So she says I spent three days a week during my first pregnancy and five days a week getting an iron infusions from Dr Fata during my second pregnancy.
Speaker 2:I was depressed in pain. My veins were destroyed because of the constant blood draws and infusions. Because of the harsh reaction I had to the iron, I also had to take Benadryl every day. Not only were both of my children exposed to the iron, but also a second drug. In order for me to tolerate it, I was drugging my kids, but not drinking soda. I would pray and ask God that my numbers would be good enough for me to be normal and for my kids to be safe, but according to Dr Fata, they were never good enough for me to be normal and for my kids to be safe. But according to Dr Fata, they were never good enough.
Speaker 2:I wanted to experience a healthy, happy pregnancy, but I never did. I was in fear and depressed each time. I received nearly 300 infusions, but after his arrest. I got a second and third opinion and was told I never needed more than five. Opinion and was told I never needed more than five. I was also advised that the type of iron was not the correct type. Being self-employed, taking daily treatments, put me out of business. During the years I was pregnant, I went to two doctors. Both of them advised me I had iron poisoning.
Speaker 2:Both of them told me, I now have to check my major organ functions and also be checked for calcification of my organs. I am 37 years old. The worst part is that I have to have both of my children tested for iron poisoning. I took them to the hospital and had them poked by needles a two-year-old and a four-year-old. I had to have their blood drawn. I questioned myself Was my trust in Dr Fata going to be hurtful to my children? Will they be sick because of me? Did he really infuse a pregnant woman with unnecessary iron for financial gain? The thought that he could have done this to my kids was unbearable. Continued testing will be necessary in order to properly monitor them for the unforeseen future. I have residual damages as a result of the iron. I have been advised to have regular phlebotomies in order to get rid of the extra iron I have. I have lost feeling due to nerve damage and I'm still missing work and time away from my kids.
Speaker 1:Yikes, and how much money did that extra money did that garner him?
Speaker 2:I can't imagine iron infusions like and she received nearly 300 and was told she only needed no more than five, and it wasn't even the right kind of iron he must have really had some the charisma set up with these, the charisma to to get people to well, I mean, as a patient, you're going to believe you're well, yeah, doctor, but unfortunately they're.
Speaker 1:yeah, but pharmaceutical kickbacks or something motivated this yeah.
Speaker 2:You know All right. Next one TK wife of a patient. My husband started treatment with FATA seven years ago for myelodysplasia MDS. Since 2007, my husband has remained on chemo in addition to iron infusions and four injections a month. Our second opinion doctor asked us why we never tried some cell transplants. He said that they can be very effective in treating MDS rather than taking dangerous chemo treatments. Dr Fata never told us this was an option. When we discussed alternatives to chemo, all Dr Fata indicated was that if my husband did not follow Dr Fata's chemo regimen he would get leukemia. He told us stem cell transplants have wait. He did not tell us that stem cell transplants have been available for years. Unfortunately, the normal cutoff is 70 and my husband is 71 now. And my husband is 71 now.
Speaker 2:Patient Jacqueline Sheldon McDowell. I began seeing Dr Fata in May 2006 for his diagnosis of Hodgkin's lymphoma. He treated me with chemo for approximately six months at the U of M Ann Arbor. I was told that I actually had non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and would now need a bone marrow transplant because of the previous failed chemo treatment. When I told Fata I had canceled my chemo treatment, he proceeded to yell at me that I was wasting his time in a spot someone else could be using. Okay, the conversation ended with me in tears and him telling me not to bother coming back to him because, quote, there are too many hands in your cookie jar end. Quote. Ugh, his nurse called and tried to reschedule me. I refused.
Speaker 1:Oh man, and so future generations are affected by his negligence as well.
Speaker 2:Patient HG. I asked Dr Fata if I could get the treatments in either Kalamazoo or St Joseph, michigan, as I have a small cottage in Western Michigan. He absolutely refused. I had to travel 500 miles round trip to return for treatments. At one point I inquired if a second opinion would be advisable. His reply was quote if I obtain a second opinion, do not return for his care. End quote.
Speaker 1:Well, that's a sign of someone who has something to hide right there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, patient Irene Farley. My last follow-up with Fata was July 2013. At this visit, he said he wanted me to get a PET scan. He also wanted me to use a pharmacist that he knew Sketchy. He seemed very nervous during this discussion. Fata also lied when getting my PET scan ordered by saying I had bone pan and I never said that to him.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, should we put in a little to those listeners who don't know, when you read your chart notes, if there's something in like if you're on your patient portal and you read a chart note or someone says something and it's not always let's hope it's not always malicious or or uh, with intent like this was obviously. You know people get things wrong sometimes. You can get that corrected. You can send in a little. You know, there's usually a link where you can send in a correction to say that's not what I said or that's not what I meant, and get it corrected. But that's not why he wrote that.
Speaker 2:Patient Susan Duda. I always thought it was strange that he only spent three minutes with me and never had any records on my blood count numbers and another one about Wait, what happened to eight minutes?
Speaker 1:Amanda, You're supposed to spend eight.
Speaker 2:The two that I quoted for time, said nothing about eight minutes. So the other one was patient Jack Fields. He says it was always the same Wait two or three hours to talk with Dr Fata, who would spend a grand total of two or three minutes to tell you that you're doing fine and then schedule another appointment Gross.
Speaker 1:Yep, so gross.
Speaker 2:And I was reading the other ones and they were like. It seemed like the most important thing to him was walking us up front to reschedule a new appointment. Not reschedule, but schedule another one. Yeah Right, patient Tina Farrell. It is so hard to trust doctors now because of Dr Fata and it will take a long time to trust again. I want him to know that my 10-year-old daughter sees him on the news and I have to explain to her why my doctor hurt people. How do you explain that to a 10-year-old that a doctor could hurt people? I have no answers for her. My heart Patient, sandra Lord. I don't trust any doctor or medical professional. I doubt everything they say. When I start thinking about it, I can't function. I become so anxious that I can't even go to work and if I have a doctor's appointment for myself or my son, I cancel it. I thought it would get better with time, but it hasn't. How am I supposed to go through the rest of my life not trusting the medical profession?
Speaker 1:Absolutely. She has a point, I mean absolutely, she has a point.
Speaker 2:I mean patient. Sorry, I just need to take one quick.
Speaker 1:This is a lot it is a lot and I think, I think you know just, it's not even what he actually did in the moment to these people, but it's what the the trauma that he caused for their, for the future, for them getting help by anybody in the future, let alone what their family members are going through or their kids are learning about this.
Speaker 2:Patient Melissa Ann Clock. My entire family suffered emotionally and financially. We paid many bills out of pocket that our insurance did not cover. We had to rely on the kindness of others to help buy groceries, pay our mortgage and other miscellaneous bills. All of our money went to Dr Fata to pay for his unnecessary and damaging treatments. We could not even afford Christmas gifts for our daughter that year. This was extremely upsetting for my husband. He felt horrible that we could not make ends meet through no fault of his own. So sad.
Speaker 2:And last but not least, just one other note from children of a patient. The thought of anyone mistreating our father haunts us and causes guilt feelings because quote we should have known end quote. But you case of Dr Fareed Fata is the case of Dr Fareed Fata. I do think that this case is a chilling reminder of the dangers posed by individuals who misuse this trust that people place in them. His actions devastated countless lives, leaving patients suffering from unnecessary treatments and financial hardship. And, like you were just saying, his fraudulent activities have forever altered the lives of so many and will continue through generations. And may this serve as a cautionary tale of greed gone unchecked in the medical field.
Speaker 1:Oh, amanda, I mean, I know, I know that none of these cases are uplifting, but, my goodness, a neighbor of someone who was treated this way by him, how would you ever go to the hospital and feel like you were going to get reliable and trustworthy care?
Speaker 2:Like what is your motive here? Are you actually caring for me or are you getting something out of this?
Speaker 1:Not only has he destroyed physically destroyed patients' lives, but he's really done the dirty for the medical profession itself as well. But what I don't understand is when you talked about how he was first starting out. He had all these practices and he was loving and caring and doing all the right things. He could have made a ton of money doing the right thing, being the good guy, hiring people to work for him and doing what he did. He was obviously capable and educated and able. So what the heck happened to where he felt like he had to take it further and just basically torture and kill people and irreversibly change the trajectory of families' lives because of money, pure greed. It is so gross. It's so gross and, like I said, I hope there's a special place in hell and then he doesn't make it to 85 in the slammer and, honestly, with prison, justice and the fact that he was an oncologist, I don't know, they might just take care of it themselves. I'm just saying it happens.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I will post also to the show notes the link to the victim stories in case anyone wants to read any of the other ones.
Speaker 1:Yeah, thank you for sharing those. I mean, I think it's really, really important to not just gloss over, you know, the impact of the victims and focus on the sensationalism of the um villain in this case. But, um, god, it's heartbreaking and I think I'm just gonna like, after we get off of here, have a little cry um, and maybe take, maybe take my claritin and thank god that I have decent doctors. I know, I know, I mean that's. The other thing is he's preying on people who you know. A lot of times it's not like you're you grow up learning about um, what is you know, multiple myeloma or non-hodgkin's disease? Um, so you, you know the first person you go to and if it's, unfortunately somebody like this, a charlatan, um, you know you're there, your hope, your, your guiding light and you're going to do whatever it takes.
Speaker 2:I thought, yeah, those the impact statements of the false hope and all the families writing in how they didn't get those final moments because the patient or their family member didn't believe that they were dying because of the false hope and that they would just become angry like how can you not trust me, he's gonna cure me.
Speaker 1:That is just so tragic and all to sell a couple extra treatments, unnecessary treatments, for a cancer that was completely unrelated to what this lady had. He stole final moments between family members. I mean that to me really got me as well, because, yeah, you took healthy people and he made them sick, but then he took away the last final moments of a patient, um, by promising her things that weren't true. I mean that's just just to make more money. I mean all of it's tragic all around, but like wow, I've never heard of anything like quite this, quite this bad in the medical field. So you know, you, you put your finger to the pulse here. That's what this podcast is about. We're we're wanting to talk about these things, to bring it to general awareness and just learn from it and and remember those who suffered at the hands of various people. So thank you for bringing that up. That was, that was fast Fascinating. Yes, thank you.
Speaker 2:That was a lot. So thanks for hanging in there, everybody. Jenna, what can our listeners expect to hear next week?
Speaker 1:Well, next week we are going to cover the age of flim flam the what now? And one of the age of flim flam the what now? And one of the age of flim flam, and probably the first most prolific quack to enter, uh, american medicine. So, yeah, we'll continue with with sort of this theme here and I hope that everyone stays tuned. Don't miss a beat. Subscribe or follow Doctoring the Truth wherever you enjoy your podcasts, for stories that shock, intrigue and educate. Trust, after all, is a delicate thing. You can text us directly on our website at doctoringthetruthat buzzsproutcom. Email us your own story ideas and comments at doctoringthetruth at gmail, and be sure to follow us on Instagram at doctoringthetruth. Don't forget to download, rate and review so we can be sure to bring you more excellent content next week. Until then, stay safe, bye.
