Politics & Government
Farid ‘Dr. Evil’ Fata’s Patients Get $8M Settlement
The approximately 550 victims and their families can still apply for restitution from $11.7 billion federal restitution fund.
OAKLAND COUNTY, MI — About 40 of Farid Fata’s victims — cancer patients poisoned by over-treatment and healthy people who never had cancer at all — will share in an $8 million settlement reached with the disgraced oncologist and three area hospitals, Crittenton Hospital, McLaren Medical Center and Trinity health.
The 40 people who filed the malpractice suit represented only a handful of the 550 people the government said were victimized in Fata’s massive scheme to defraud the government-run Medicare and Blue Cross Blue Shield of millions of dollars.
An arbitrator will distribute the money this fall.
Find out what's happening in Rochester-Rochester Hillsfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Brian McKeen, the plaintiffs’ attorney said in a news release that Fata’s victims were “never going to receive fair levels of compensation” because he only carried about $3.6 million in malpractice insurance and had set “extremely low” limits per claim.
Michigan law doesn’t require physicians to carry malpractice insurance.
Find out what's happening in Rochester-Rochester Hillsfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Fata, dubbed “Dr. Evil” by his victims, is currently serving 45 years in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to fraud, money laundering and conspiracy. The government said the oncologist raked in about $17 million in fraudulent billings.
He was arrested after a 2013 raid on the Rochester Hills clinic in what federal prosecutors called one of the most egregious Medicare fraud cases ever because it exploited sick people at a vulnerable point in their lives.
Fata owned Operated Michigan Oncology Centers, which had multiple Oakland County locations.
Related on Patch
- Medicare Report: Disgraced Oncologist One of Nation’s Highest-Paid Physicians
- Disgraced Cancer Doc Named in 20 Lawsuits on Anniversary of Arrest
- Report: State Ignored Whistleblower Suspicious in 2010 of Oncologist’s ‘Chemo Mill’
- Surprise Move in Case Against Cancer Doc Who Misdiagnosed Patients, Prescribed Unnecessary Drugs
- Sentence Handed Down in ‘Dr. Evil’ Medicare Fraud Case
- Whistleblower Settles Lawsuit Against ‘Dr. Evil’
- Oncologist Fata’s Victims ‘Injured Twice’ In Restitution Plan: Attorney
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
