False diagnoses, unnecessary tests, overdose chemotherapy---are some of the charges proved in the long list of fraud against a Michigan Oncologist. The trial is one of the worst ever medical fraud cases in the United States.

Oncologist Dr. Farid Fata , 50, told healthy patients that they had cancer, then gave them massive doses of chemotherapy to maximize his profit. He also gave chemotherapy to terminally ill patients whom he took from hospices, offering them the hope of cure to entice them into treatment. The number of patients identified has reached 553. Many were injured permanently by the huge doses of anticancer drugs they received, and many died in his care (exact number unknown).

Fata pleaded guilty last September to 13 counts of healthcare fraud, two counts of money laundering, and one count of conspiring to pay and receive kickbacks. He billed patients and insurance companies for $34.7million, receiving $17.6million, for work he later admitted was unnecessary. He is a native of Lebanon.

Fata founded Michigan Hematology and Oncology Centers, the state’s largest private cancer practice at the time of his arrest. His scam lasted five years from 2009, prosecutors said, until he was reported to the authorities by his office manager, George Karadsheh. Karadsheh told ABC Nightline that he grew suspicious because staff kept leaving the practice. Finally one oncologist, on quitting, told him that it was because Fata was administering chemotherapy to healthy patients.

Patients without cancer were also receiving chemotherapy until the last day of their lives.

U.S. District Judge Paul Borman heard stories of brittle bones and fried organs as patients chillingly described the effects of excessive chemotherapy at the hands of Farid Fata.

Fata offered no excuses before getting his punishment. Stone-faced all week in court, he repeatedly broke down in loud sobs as he begged for mercy Friday.

"I misused my talents, yes, and permitted this sin to enter me because of power and greed," Fata said. "My quest for power is self-destructive."

Federal prosecutor had asked for a 175-year prison sentence, while Fata sought 25 years.

His clinic, Michigan Hematology Oncology, had seven offices in the Detroit area and a related business that performed tests to look for cancer. Testifying for the government, two experts from Harvard medical school said they were troubled after looking at a small portion of patient files.

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