Cancer is a serious health problem that all people fight against. The disease is one of the leading causes of death for millions of people around the globe. Currently, millions of people are affected by the disease in its various forms.
According to the The World Health Organization (WHO), the cancer “ arises from the rapid creation of abnormal cells that grow beyond their usual boundaries. The change may be started by external agents and inherited genetic factors.”
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They also add that,
“More than 60% of world’s total new annual cases occur in Africa, Asia, and Central and South America. These regions account for 70% of the world’s cancer deaths.”
This painful and fatal disease affects people of different age and different background. The treatment for cancer is also contributing to the person’s suffering and his/ her treatment is often agonizing and expensive.
According to the Cleveland Clinic:
“Chemotherapy and radiation destroy cancer cells. They also destroy normal cells in the process. These include cells of the protective lining of the mouth and the gastrointestinal tract. This can cause sores in the mouth and/or throat that are painful. The pain can be mild to severe.
The gastrointestinal tract can become irritated, which causes nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. These conditions are not permanent, and you might receive medicines to help relieve your symptoms. As your blood counts begin to recover after your infusion of stem cells, your mouth and throat will begin to heal, and nausea and vomiting will also improve.
Certain side effects can happen months or years after your transplant. They can be caused by radiation or chemotherapy, and some can be permanent, such as sterility. Secondary malignancies have been reported in some patients receiving radiation and certain types of chemotherapy. Ask your doctor for your specific risk. The risk varies depending on your age, menopausal status for women, previous history of radiation, type and doses of chemotherapy, type of transplant, and disease.”
We can’t imagine the pain these people go through. The cancer destroys the body, but the chemotherapy weakens the body even more. The loss of hair and weight also affect the person emotionally. Now, just imagine, as an addition to the pain and suffering, there is also the doctors’ mistakes!. Their bad decisions make the things even worse.
Dr. Farid Fata was a case just like that. He was an oncologist in Michigan, working in Detroit. This doctor made people suffer quite a lot.
He was arrested and accused of giving cancer medicine and treatment to people who did not even need them. He also did these treatments to people who didn’t have any signs of cancer.
According to U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade:
“Dr. Fata did not care for patients; he exploited them as commodities. He over-treated, under-treated and outright lied to patients about whether they had cancer so that he could maximize his own profits.”
He was intentionally doing that, even though he knew chemotherapy is toxic. He “gave poison to these people not to keep them alive but to make money. “
Patients who spent money on treatments given by him managed to get some of the funds back. Chris Sneary was a patient fof his for 3 years and he says:
“I gave full and total trust to this man to get me and my family through this journey I was about to begin. Dr. Fata took full advantage of my trust in him, my fear of dying and, most of all, my top of the line health insurance.”
Another victim of cancer, Donald Crabtree, left a statement regarding his experience. By the time Fata was on a trial, Donald’s died and his wife read the statement in court:
“None of the tumors were helped – they increased in number, they increased in size… I believe Dr. Fata knowingly and purposely treated me for the wrong cancer and gave me the wrong chemotherapy.”
He was charged in 2015 and ordered to forfeit $17,600,000 by the U.S. District Court Judge Paul Borman.
He admitted it all. He said that he was giving cancer treatments and chemotherapy. Some 553 patients were victims of his ill-doing.
He also added:
“I have violated the Hippocratic oath and violated the trust of my patients. I do not know how I can heal the wound. I do not know how to express the sorrow and the shame. They came to me seeking compassion and care. I failed them. My sins are many.”
The federal prosecutors described him as “most egregious fraudster in the history of this country.”.
“This is the most egregious case of fraud and deception that I have seen in my career. Dr. Fata not only defrauded the government out of millions of dollars, but he lied to his patients about their health and intentionally put their lives at risk.
The victims vengeance was very symbolic. All victims came to the court at the last day of the trial. All of them wore yellow outfit. Their message was that yellow symbolizes the sun, and today is the last day he will see sun again. He got 45 years behind bars.
Chief Weber said:
In fact, because of his lies, some of those patients who he was entrusted to care for likely died as a result of his actions. This defendant greedily cared more about his own financial well-being than the lives of his patients. This disgusting and diabolical scheme has hurt hundreds of patients and their families and stolen from them something that no punishment from the court can do to make them whole.”
