A Michigan cancer doctor who deliberately misdiagnosed patients and had them spend on unnecessary treatments so he could fill his pockets with money is facing a sentencing hearing this week.

Dr. Farid Fata has admitted to committing fraud against his patients as well as insurance companies by telling them they have cancer when they really didn't, then he had insurers billed for millions of dollars, Daily Mail reported.

Like Us on Facebook

Officials said not only did the doctor diagnose healthy patients with cancer, he also gave unrealistic hope to the critically ill, so they would continue buying treatments in hopes of extending their lives when the truth is that the medications are completely useless.

Around 553 individuals were allegedly administered with unnecessary treatment that resulted in 9,000 infusions or injections which cost patients and insurance companies millions, the prosecutors revealed.

The doctor reportedly defrauded Medicare with roughly $35 million in just two years by submitting false claims for services that in reality were completely unnecessary, federal prosecutors claimed.

Fata is expected to face many of his victims who will present evidence at the hearing. The trial is said to have started in Monday and will last at least four days.

Patty Hester, a one-time emergency room technician, was diagnosed by Fata with a myelodsyplastic syndrome in 2010. Despite being told by the oncologist that she was terminal, she said the former did not allow her to have bone marrow transplant and just gave her iron infusions and a medicine for immunodeficiency diseases, according to NBC News.

"He told me I would die from cancer or a secondary infection," Hester, who only found out the doctor was a fraud after his arrest, said. "There was no evidence that I had MDS. I do not have MDS."

Hester reportedly suffers hair-loss and high blood pressure now from the irrelevant treatments and the emotional and psychological stress brought by the ordeal.

A 175-year sentence for Fata is being sought by federal prosecutors, while defense attorneys have asked for a 25-year sentence, Daily Tribune has learned.

The oncologist had pleaded guilty to 16 charges including conspiracy for needless treatments and fraud money laundering.

TagsCancer, Farid Fata, misdiagnosis