your mouth drops. your heart sinks. reporter: imagine one moment not knowing how long you will live then after years of chemotherapy or other toxic treatments finding out your doctor lied. you never had cancer at all. what i want to do to him right now, i couldn t repeat what i want to do. it s unbelievable. reporter: you were under treatment for three years. three years. yes. reporter: three years later you find out it s a lie. it s all a lie. reporter: relief at learning they did not have cancer turned to rage for hundreds of former patients. hester just one of more than a hundred victims. they say the doctor misdiagnosed them many given unnecessary chemotherapy or other toxic treatments all prosecutors say in the name of greed. the doctor pleaded guilty to 13 counts of health care fraud, two
sentenced a cancer doctor farid fata to 45 years in federal prison. a punishment many victims don t kid harsh enough. you will find out why. what he did is beyond imagination. he deliberately poisoned his patients with treatments they did not need just to line his pockets with millions of dollars. today dozens of his patients got to face him in court. jason carol reports. reporter: for a time dr. farid fata enjoyed the type of popularity to match his million dollar lifestyle. he lived in this tony mansion and ran several upscale clinics in eastern michigan. when patricia hester started feeling hill in 2010 she knew exactly where to go. he is world renowned. when you went in his office he was top doc. reporter: that first visit a day she will never forget. he won t over the results that he said he had. and that i had mds, mild
dysplastic syndrome terminal cancer of the blood. reporter: terminal he did say? hester s story is similar to dozens of patients who prosecutors say fata told they too had cancer and needed immediate treatment. people like robert who fata falsely diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer in 2010. your mouth drops. your heart sinks. reporter: imagine one moment not knowing how long you will live then after years of chemotherapy or other toxic treatments finding out your doctor lied. you never had cancer at all. what i want to do to him right now, i couldn t repeat what i want to do. just unbelievable. reporter: you were under treatment for three under dr. fata. three years. yes. reporter: three years later you find out. it s a lie. it s all a lie. reporter: relieved at learning they did not had cancer turned to rage for hundreds of former patients of dr. fata like hester and soberet, two of more
here s cnn s jason carroll. reporter: for a time he enjoyed the type of popularity to match his million dollar lifestyle. he lived in this toney mansion and ran several upscale clinics in eastern michigan when patricia hester started feeling ill in 2010 she says she knew exactly where to go. he s world renowned. when you went in his office he was top doc. reporter: that first visit is a day she will never forget. he went over the results that he said he had and that i had mds, a terminal cancer of the blood and that reporter: terminal? it is a terminal disease. reporter: hester s story is similar to dozens of other patients. prosecutors say they too, were told they had cancer and needed immediate treatment. people like robert who was falsely diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer in 2010.