Report: State Ignored Whistleblower Suspicious in 2010 of Oncologist's 'Chemo Mill'

A whistleblower said her concerns about Oakland County oncologist Dr. Farid Fata weren’t taken seriously by state officials, who defend the process. (Photo: Shutterstock)

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An investigation by a Detroit televisions station is suggesting that state officials may have ignored whistleblowers alerting them to an Oakland County oncologist’s questionable diagnoses and treatment three years before Dr. Farid Fata was charged.

Fata is awaiting trial in U.S. District Court next month on 24 money laundering and naturalization charges after he allegedly bilked Medicare out of $91 million by prescribing unnecessary treatments and, in some cases, falsely diagnosing cancer.

Oncology nurse Angela Swantek told WDIV, Channel 4 that she suspected four years ago after an interview in one of Fata’s clinics that he was overbilling Medicare and employing questionable practices when administering medication. She reported her concerns to the Michigan regulatory department now known as the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) in April 2010

“I named the medications, how they are supposed to be given and how they were being given in his office and how more patients were being harmed,” she told the TV station. “For example, a chemo drug Velcrave is supposed to be pushed through a syringe for 30 seconds. He gives it in an IV bag over an hour,” Swantek said. “I think there were 16 or 17 chairs and everyone was full ... he was moving a lot of patients through like a chemo mill.”

Related:

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• Disgraced Cancer Doc Named in 20 Lawsuits on Anniversary of Arrest
• More Trouble for Cancer Doc Accused of Bilking Medicare for $225 Million
• Disgraced Oakland County Cancer Doc’s Trial Won’t Be Moved from Detroit

LARA investigated, but found the allegations were unfounded, the agency’s deputy director, Steve Gobbo, told the TV station. He denied the state dropped the ball in its investigation, and said Swantek could have taken her suspicions elsewhere.

“In almost every case, I can tell you that if we are not the agency to handle the matter, we would tell them person and suggest them to go in a different avenue,” Gobbo said. “I think, overall, the agency does a fabulous job in doing what it has to do under the regulatory scheme.”

Swantek told the TV station she not only wasn’t told where to appeal her concerns, but doesn’t understand why LARA wasn’t the appropriate agency to look into her concerns.

“Where else is there to go? I mean, this is who oversees my license when I need to renew my license,” she said. “What do you have to say in order to warrant an investigation to help them from doing harm to their patients?”

LARA said in a statement the agency now has the legislative authority to open an investigation when new information is received from a whistleblower such as Swantek, rather than waiting for a complaint to be filed.

“Every year we receive more allegations because every year we are licensing more people,” LARA director Carole Engle told the TV station. “ think that perhaps in the coming years it’s incumbent upon us to take a look at that and see do we in fact need to increase the number of investigators that we have.”