Witness: Cancer doctor's treatment 'over the top'

DETROIT — A metro Detroit doctor who raked in millions of dollars committing fraud against insurance companies grossly over treated hundreds of patients, sometimes giving nearly four times the recommended dosage amount of aggressive cancer drugs, a government witness testified Monday in federal court.

Dozens of victims and their families packed into a courtroom and overflow rooms to face Dr. Farid Fata, 50, who has admitted to reaping millions through the treatments.

Victims cried as Fata, dressed in a business jacket and white shirt, was brought in the courtroom handcuffed. Some of the victims rode on a bus together to Detroit that had poster on it that read "Life for Fata."

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

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

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

Fata showed no emotion Monday as government witness 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," said Longo. "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, 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.

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.