'Greedy Butcher' Doc Accused of Unnecessary Surgeries Gets 19 Years

(Updated) DETROIT, MI — A Detroit-area neurosurgeon called a “greedy butcher” by federal prosecutors was sentenced Monday to more than 19 years in prison in a $2.8 million health-care fraud scheme in which he performed unnecessary spinal surgeries.

Dr. Aria O. Sabit, 43, of Birmingham, pleaded guilty to four counts of health care fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and one count of unlawful distribution of a controlled substance, resulting in losses to Medicare, Medicaid and various private insurance companies, the Justice Department said in a news release.

Sabit was a licensed neurosurgeon who owned and operated the Michigan Brain and Spine Physicians Group, which had various locations in the Eastern District of Michigan.

In connection with his guilty plea, Sabit admitted that he derived significant profits by convincing patients to undergo spinal fusion surgeries with “instrumentation” (medical devices designed to stabilize and strengthen the spine) that he never performed and billed public and private healthcare benefit programs for those fraudulent services.

Sabit further admitted that, in some instances, he operated on patients and dictated in his operative reports — which he knew would later be used to support fraudulent insurance claims — that he had performed spinal fusion with instrumentation, when he had not.

Specifically, Sabit fraudulently billed public and private health care programs for instrumentation when, in fact, he used cortical bone dowels made of tissue. Sabit failed to render services in relation to lumbar and thoracic fusion surgeries, including in certain instances, billing for implants that were not provided.

Before moving to moving to Michigan, Sabit was a resident of Ventura, California, and a licensed neurosurgeon in California. Sabit admitted that, in approximately February 2010, while he was on the staff of a California hospital, he became involved with Apex Medical Technologies LLC (Apex), which was owned by another neurosurgeon and three non-physicians.

In exchange for the opportunity to invest in Apex and share in its profits, Sabit agreed to convince his hospital to buy spinal implant devices from Apex and to use a substantial number Apex spinal implant devices in his surgical procedures. Sabit further admitted that he and

Apex’s co-owners concealed Sabit’s involvement in Apex from the hospitals and surgical centers.

In connection with his guilty plea, Sabit admitted that the financial incentives provided to him by Apex and his co-conspirators caused him to use more spinal implant devices than were medically necessary to treat his patients in order to generate more sales revenue for Apex, which resulted in serious bodily injury to his patients.

Sabit also admitted that, on a few occasions, the money he made from using Apex spinal implant devices motivated him either to refer patients for unnecessary spine surgeries or for more complex procedures that they did not need.

(Patch's earlier report.) DETROIT, MI — A Detroit area doctor who accepted big kickbacks from implant manufacturers and whose spinal surgeries were described by federal prosecutors as “plain butchery” will be sentenced in federal court Monday. Dr. Aria Sabit could go to prison for 19 years if the judge follows the government’s recommendation.

Sabit, who has admitted he took kickbacks from the manufacturer of certain implants in Ventura, California, and surrendered his medical license there. The Afghan-born neurosurgeon moved to Michigan in 2011 and opened the Michigan Brain and and Spine Physicians Group, which had offices in Southfield, Clinton Township and Dearborn.

The government has alleged that Sabit has ownership interest in a company that distributed obscure devices that we implanted in unnecessary spinal surgeries in Michigan and California. He’s also accused of cheating insurers out of $11 million.

In a rare move in 2015, U.S. District Judge Paul Borman tossed out a plea deal that would have put Sabit in prison for 10 years because he said it didn’t provide him proper direction, but ordered that Sabit remain in federal detention because he has been deemed a flight risk.

The government alleges Sabit illegally obtained U.S. citizenship in 2013 when he didn’t disclose the fraud allegations against him in California, where more than two dozen medical malpractice suits have been filed against him.
One of Sabit’s former patients, Sheree Robidoux, told WDIV-TV that the physician billed him for putting “hardware in my spine” when he didn’t. Another former patient, Ronald Reinhardt, told the TV station that because there’s no deal in place with Sabit, “this is truly up for grabs.”

More on This Story

• Oakland County Surgeon Accused in Multi-Million-Dollar Health-Care Fraud
• Feds: Oakland County Doc Hid Money in Kids’ Bank Accounts
• Judge Rejects Plea Deal of Doc Who Admitted Unnecessary Surgeries

“When there is no sentencing agreement and the parties are free to argue at both ends of the spectrum, we, the public; the accused, Dr. Sabit and the government have no idea what the outcome will be,” Rockind said.
Rockind said he has faith the judicial system “will eventually get him, and hopefully, he will get the time he greatly deserves.

He and Robidoux are among the former patients Borman is expected to hear from in Monday’s s sentencing of the doctor that prosecutors have called a “greedy butcher.”

Prosecutors have compared Sabit to Dr. Farid Fata, a Metro Detroit oncologist currently serving a 45-year federal prison sentence for ordering painful cancer treatments on patients, some of whom weren’t even sick, in a scheme to defraud Medicare and Blue Cross Blue Shield of millions of dollars. Prosecutors and victims have called Fata “Dr. Evil.”

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