Cancer doc patients say 45 years in prison not enough

He pumped poisonous chemotherapy drugs into patients for years, telling them they had cancer. They didn't.

He over-treated terminal cancer patients rather than letting them die peacefully. When he could profit from it, he also under-treated actual cancer patients.

And on Friday, nearly two years after his arrest, Dr. Farid Fata was sentenced to 45 years in federal prison for violating more than 550 patients' trust and raking in more than $17 million from fraudulent billings.

For many people tortured by Oakland County oncologist's treatments, it was a weak punishment.

"He killed my husband," said Patricia Loewen of Prudenville, whose husband, Kenneth Paul Loewen, died in September at age 62. She said the former cancer doctor, now age 50, deserves to never be freed.

Loewen was one of hundreds of victims over-treated, misdiagnosed or under-treated so Fata could fraudulently rake in more than $17 million. Federal prosecutors call it the most egregious case of fraud case they've ever seen.

"This is a huge, horrific series of criminal acts that were committed by the defendant," U.S. District Judge Paul Borman said before sentencing Fata, saying the once-prominent oncologist "practiced greed and shut down whatever compassion he had."

Borman, who sentenced Fata to 45 years total on multiple counts of health care fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to pay and receive kickbacks, said the crimes called for "a very significant sentence for very, very terrible conduct."

U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade's prosecutors asked for 175 years, the maximum. She said afterward that the result was "close to a life sentence," and that she didn't expect the case to be so egregious when they'd started on it.

"Chemotherapy, as you know, is poison," McQuade said. "Dr. Fata gave poison to people who didn't even have cancer ... to make money."

Loewen said 45 years is a poor deterrent to other bad doctors. 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.

A McQuade spokeswoman said she didn't know how much credit Fata could get for behaving himself, and a spokesman with the Federal Department of Prisons didn't immediately return a call for comment.

Not all victims were upset with Borman's sentence.

Sydney Zaremba's 87-year-old mother died less than four months after Fata started chemotherapy for a stage 1 (early stage) tumor in her neck. She said it was confirmed her mother was over-treated with support drugs, and that she didn't deserve to die the way she did.

"Of course, everybody would want to see life," Zaremba said of Fata's sentence. "No matter what happens, nobody wins in this situation. There will never be justice."

She said she believes Borman gave Fata 45 years knowing that if the sentence is appealed, "whoever takes that on will look at it and say, 'That's pretty reasonable.'"

Loewen's husband had esophageal cancer, and she said Fata started chemotherapy before he had a chance to heal from surgery. And her husband was put on Neulasta, a drug so strong it knocked him "to the ground and on the couch for days," she said.

"It only made my husband sicker," she said. "And to find out the Neulasta shots were unnecessary, I'm just devastated."

Loewen said her husband was scheduled for eight radiation treatments one day after Fata was arrested; when they went to different doctors, they learned he didn't even need radiation.

Fata, who openly wept in court Friday as he apologized for his actions, admitted to fraudulently billing Medicare, insurance companies and at least 550 patients through misdiagnoses, overtreatment and undertreatment. In some cases, he gave nearly four times the recommended dosage amount of aggressive cancer drugs; in at least one, a patient was given toxic chemotherapy for five years when the standard treatment was six months, according to former patients and experts who testified in court this week.

"I misused my talents ... because of power and greed. My quest for power is self-destructive," Fata told the court before sentencing. He said he is "horribly ashamed of my conduct" and prays for repentance.

Zaremba said she believes Fata was sincere.

"I actually cried," she said, adding that the educated, Christian man with such training to help people must feel intense remorse. "I had felt pity the first time I saw him come in in shackles."

Defense attorney Christopher Andreoff asked Borman to sentence Fata to no more than 25 years in prison, saying even that could be a life sentence because of Fata's health.

"Our recommendation will give him nothing more than a chance for release before he dies," Andreoff said.



U.S. Assistant Prosecutor Catherine Dick told the court her office has "never seen anything like this before. ... And that is because of the harm."



"Fata was greedy, and he wanted that money," Dick said. "What this defendant did is unquantifiable. There is no way to quantify the suffering."



Dick said patients died in horrible pain from Fata's treatments.



Borman had set the sentencing guidelines to 30 years to life on Thursday based on the charges and circumstances.

"My role ... is to impose a sentence sufficient but not greater than necessary," Borman said Friday morning.

The federal court this week heard accounts of about 22 victims, who shared unthinkable experiences of a healthy adult undergoing chemotherapy and losing nearly all his teeth, of a patient diagnosed with lung cancer when he had kidney cancer, and more. Some statements were read by family members of patients who died.

Some patients with no documented iron deficiencies were given overwhelming amounts of iron, while others were given lower-than-needed doses of chemotherapy drugs, experts testified.

McQuade called his case the "the most egregious" health care fraud case her office has seen. On Friday after sentencing, she applauded the whistleblower office manager who tipped off investigators. She also thanked the victims for their help in prosecuting and applauded the cooperation among the FBI, IRS and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in bringing Fata to justice.

Fata, arrested in August 2013, pleaded guilty last September to 13 counts of health care fraud, two counts of money laundering and one count of conspiring to pay and receive kickbacks. The case involves $34.7 million in billings to patients and insurance companies, and $17.6 million paid for work Fata admitted was unnecessary. He remains incarcerated, and his medical license has been revoked.

The former doctor has agreed to forfeit $17.6 million and a number of assets in the case. The sentencing hearing began Monday and has also included testimony from experts on behalf of prosecutors, as well as statements from victims who support Fata.

Gregory Cadd of White Lake said Fata should've gotten double the sentence, and he doesn't care about getting any money.

"I don't want anything back from him," he said. "If anyone shoves a check in my hand, I'm going to find the nearest charity that I can to give it to in the name of my father."

Cadd said his father's good insurance policy and lung cancer is what led to the over-treatment by Fata, who "just kept it up, kept it up until finally my father passed away because of that monster," Cadd said, becoming tearful. "That's all he ever was is a monster out to live off people's pain and suffering, and wanted to live the good life."

Fata, a married father of three and a naturalized U.S. citizen whose native country is Lebanon, was charged with running the scheme that involved billing the government for medically unnecessary cancer and blood treatments. His family has moved out of the country, and his attorney said he is lonely while incarcerated.

The government said Fata ran the scheme from 2009 to 2014 through his medical businesses, including Michigan Hematology Oncology Centers, with offices in Clarkston, Bloomfield Hills, Lapeer, Sterling Heights, Troy and Oak Park.

The once highly-respected doctor clutched an handkerchief while addressing the court Friday, his voice becoming high-pitched with emotions at times.

"I have violated the medical oath, and I have caused anguish, hardship and pain to my patients and their families," he said. "They came to me seeking compassion and care. I failed them."

He didn't visibly react when the sentence was read or when he was handcuffed and escorted from the courtroom.

Contact Robert Allen at rallen@freepress.com or @rallenMI.