A doctor based in Michigan is accused of defrauding patients by having them undergo unnecessary treatments, according to a federal complaint.
ABC News reports Dr. Farid Fata, 48, of Oakland Township, Mich., allegedly gave ''unnecessary chemotherapy to patients in remission' and deliberately misdiagnosed patients in order to defraud the federally-funded health care program of approximately $35 million over a two-year period, according to the complaint."
Fata was arrested on Tuesday, and booked in the Wayne County Jail in Detroit, Mich. He is the owner of Michigan Hematology Oncology Centers (MHO), and federal officials raided his offices, seizing medical records to build their case.
"Violating a patient's trust and placing them at risk through fraudulent abuse of our nation's health care system is deplorable," FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert D. Foley III said in a news release.
The doctor is accused of "systematically defrauded Medicare by submitting false claims for services that were medically unnecessary" for patients, the federal complaint said, according to ABC News. The "unnecessary" procedures included cancer and hematology treatments.
Angela Swantek, an oncology nurse for Fata, told ABC News she gave her first complaint against the doctor in 2010.
"I don't know how he's gotten away with it for this long," Swantek told ABC News. "I was disgusted. I got in the car, I was still sitting in the parking lot and I was truly almost in tears just because of what I saw and how patients were getting their chemotherapy."
Christopher Andreoff, the attorney who represents Fata, told ABC News his client was innocent.
"The government has not retained an expert to give an opinion that there was a mistreatment, or misdiagnosis, or unnecessary tests given to any patient," Andreoff said.
Prosecutors wanted to keep the doctor behind bars, but a judge set Fata's bond at $170,000 on Friday. The conditions of his release on bond were he must where electronic monitoring 24 hours a day, he cannot leave his home, surrender his Lebanese and U.S. passports, and he cannot practice medicine or prescribe medication.
Fata will return to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan on Tuesday. He faces up to 20 years in jail, if convicted.
