ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER
Thanks to whistleblower George Karadsheh, a doctor who was improperly giving patients chemotherapy was stopped. Dr. Farid Fata, a Michigan doctor, was recently sentenced to 45 years in jail.
According to prosecutors, Fata mistreated over 500 patients. In some cases, he was administering chemotherapy to people who did not have cancer at all. In other cases, the patients did have cancer, but were given treatment for longer than necessary. Many suffered serious side effects as a result. Fata was doing this in order to receive large payments from Medicare and insurance providers.
Karadsheh was Fata’s practice manager for two years. In 2013, Karadsheh asked another doctor why he was leaving the practice, and the doctor told him it was because Fata was doing improper things. Karadsheh then questioned other employees and when they confirmed his suspicions, he went to a lawyer. California whistleblower attorneys say that employees with substantial evidence of fraud should go to a lawyer who handles whistleblower and False Claims Act lawsuits.
His lawyer helped him file a lawsuit under the Federal False Claims Act, which allows anyone knowing of fraud against the federal government to sue on the government’s behalf. Fata was also arrested after the US Attorney was contacted.
Whistleblowers are incentivized by receiving a portion of the damages recovered. In this case, the government recovered $17 million from Fata, of which up to 25 percent will go to Karadsheh. Over $100 billion worth of Medicare and Medicaid fraud occurs annually, say California whistleblower attorneys.
Evans Law Firm, Inc. handles whistleblower and qui tam (False Claims Act) cases, including Medicare and Medicaid fraud lawsuits, although it was not involved in this case. If you have a potential whistleblower claim, please contact Evans Law Firm, Inc. at 415-441-8669 or via email at info@evanslaw.com.
