naturally these days for this group. it s not all right, actually. it s not all right, you know? it s not all right. but you have an amazing attitude. yes. amazing. that s god. i know. all god. reporter: they re bound by tragic circumstances, each one a victim in some form or fashion of a cancer doctor prosecutors say did the unthinkable. this we believe to be the most serious fraud case in the history of the country. reporter: but it was so much more than just fraud to these folks. they lost their health or their loved one to dr. farid fata s care or lack thereof. more than 500 patients were unnecessarily pumped with drugs, prosecutors say. lives altered or ended. an emotional week which began with victims sharing their stories of pain finished with dr. fata himself sobbing before the judge, begging for leniency. but it didn t seem to matter. the judge went by the book tallying the crimes and the mandated sentences that go with them. 45 years in jail.
most serious fraud case in the history of the country. reporter: but it was so much more than just fraud to these folks. they lost their health or their loved one to dr. farid fata s care or lack thereof. more than 500 patients were unnecessarily pumped with drugs, prosecutors say. lives altered or ended. an emotional week which began with victims sharing their stories of pain finished with dr. fata himself sobbing before the judge, begging for lean yen sichlt leniency. 45 years in jail. 45 years for the lives that he took. it wasn t enough. all the victims? my sister s gone. it just want enough. reporter: prosecutors wanted what the families wanted 175 years. we believed that nothing short of a life sentence was appropriate in this case because the harm was so egregious. reporter: but for families they concede prison terms will
own personal medical records. what is your message? my message is be aware of everything that is going on when you re getting these treatments. get copies of your ct scans, copies of your mris, your biopsy. we found out that he was being treated for the wrong cancer when we got a copy of the biopsy from the fbi which clearly stated that lack of nuclear staining ttf argues against lung carcinoma. then they listed the kidney cancer which he had. however, when you look at the records from dr. fata what he listed was that my husband had small-cell lung cancer. right. and then he listed all of these chemotherapies which he made more money on than exactly.
here and consider people vulnerable because they think they re sick and by the hundreds. yeah. it s shocking because many of the people didn t have cancer. and yet, they went through cancer treatment, chemotherapy and other poisonous treatments because dr. fata told them they needed it. the prosecutor asked for 175 years. you saw federal judge 45. sounds like a long time. and drachlt. fata is 50 and might get good time for good behavior in prison but you can understand some of the patients say we got a life sentence and living with the consequences of this. for our lives. even the accusations, what are those accusations? amongst other things that he s accused of. federal government went for what they could prove and it wasn t what you might think. he was he pled guilty to financial crimes to money laundering, 13 counts. two counts of money laundering.
what dr. fata had done to him, that he had given him, on purpose, the wrong chemo. he treated him for the wrong cancer. he told us that he had lung cancer and actually fortunately the fbi did arrest dr. fata in time. my husband was still alive, and we found out that it was not lung cancer it was kidney cancer and that the chemo he gave him did absolutely nothing for him. it just right. made him weaker. and sicker. the actualorstumors grew and spread. by the time you figured it out, it was too late for your husband. i know one of the things you want people to learn from this horrific case is how important it is to be in charge of your