Cancer doctor sentenced to 45 years for 'horrific' fraud

DETROIT — He pumped poisonous chemotherapy drugs into patients for years, telling them they had cancer. They didn't.

He over-treated terminal cancer patients rather than letting them die peacefully. When he could profit from it, he also under-treated actual cancer patients.

And on Friday, nearly two years after his arrest, Dr. Farid Fata was sentenced to 45 years in federal prison for violating more than 550 patients' trust and raking in more than $17 million from fraudulent billings.

For many people tortured by the Oakland County oncologist's treatments, it was a weak punishment.

"He killed my husband," said Patricia Loewen of Prudenville, whose husband, Kenneth Paul Loewen, died in September at age 62. She said Fata, 50, deserves to never be freed.

Federal prosecutors call it the most egregious case of fraud they've ever seen.

"This is a huge, horrific series of criminal acts that were committed by the defendant," U.S. District Judge Paul Borman said before sentencing Fata, saying the once-prominent oncologist "practiced greed and shut down whatever compassion he had."

Borman, who sentenced Fata to 45 years total on multiple counts of health care fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to pay and receive kickbacks, said the crimes called for "a very significant sentence for very, very terrible conduct."

U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade's prosecutors asked for 175 years, the maximum. She said afterward that the result was "close to a life sentence," and that she didn't expect the case to be so egregious when they'd started on it.

"Chemotherapy, as you know, is poison," McQuade said. "Dr. Fata gave poison to people who didn't even have cancer ... to make money."

Loewen said 45 years is a poor deterrent to other bad doctors. Parole isn't possible in the federal case, but Fata could be released while he's still alive because of good behavior while in prison.

Not all victims were upset with Borman's sentence.

Sydney Zaremba's 87-year-old mother died less than four months after Fata started chemotherapy for an early stage tumor in her neck. She said it was confirmed her mother was over-treated with support drugs, and that she didn't deserve to die the way she did.

"Of course, everybody would want to see life," Zaremba said of Fata's sentence. "No matter what happens, nobody wins in this situation. There will never be justice."

She said she believes Borman gave Fata 45 years knowing that if the sentence is appealed, "whoever takes that on will look at it and say, 'That's pretty reasonable.'"

Fata, who openly wept in court Friday as he apologized for his actions.

"I misused my talents ... because of power and greed. My quest for power is self-destructive," Fata told the court before sentencing. He said he is "horribly ashamed of my conduct" and prays for repentance.

Defense attorney Christopher Andreoff had asked Borman to sentence Fata to no more than 25 years in prison, saying even that could be a life sentence because of Fata's health.