World’s Worst Doctor

Could you imagine being told you have cancer when you really don't?

A Detroit-area oncologist named Farid Fata is facing a possible 25- to 175- year prison sentence after intentionally misdiagnosing hundreds of patients. He told healthy patients they had cancer and gave them unnecessary treatments, like chemotherapy and radiation, in order to make more money. Dr. Fata also lied to patients who did have cancer about their chances of survival so he could give them more treatments. He pleaded guilty to fraud in September.

A weeklong sentencing hearing began Monday, and about 35 of the victims took a bus to federal court for the chance to watch as a government witness described Dr. Fata's crimes.

NBC reported, "When he walked by me during one of the breaks, when they walked him out, I looked him square in the face. He had that 'Fata look' — smug," said Steven Skrzypczak.  Steven Skrzypczak is a 68-year-old victim who claims he was told he had non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Fata implanted a mediport in his chest and gave him 25 treatments with one chemo drug in six months.  After Fata's arrest in 2013, Skrzypczak went to two other oncologists who told him that he'd never had cancer.  "I want him to get life," Skrzypczak said of the doctor.

Here is Local 4 News in Detroit on Dr. Fata: