Toxic chemotherapy for cancers they didnt have. He said, you need to start this drug immediately. Or you will die. That whole idea is so heinous, you cant wrap your brain around it. Could you have ever imagined a doctor doing Something Like this . Never. His patients never had a chance. Never had a chance. I thought i need to do something for them. Do no harm. Welcome to dateline. Im lester holt. For most cancer patients, the disease is the enemy. In this story, the enemy was the doctor. Its a case with hundreds of victims, millions in profits. It was as common as a broken leg that helped break open one of the biggest medical crimes in the country. Three little words. You have cancer. He told me that i was terminal and that i wa g to die. You cling to family, Close Friends and your doctors. The people you trust. I was very scared. In one unprecedented case, that cancer diagnosis came with a nefarious twist. He almost took my husband and then he almost took my best friend. Tonight, we will bring you inside a web of lies that took years to expose. This is the most egregious case of fraud i have seen in my life and im aware of in the entire country. Could it have been stopped sooner before so many were hurt . How can somebody miss the red flag . I dont understand. You would never guess that 54yearold monica flag had any Serious Health issues. Fair to say you had an active lifestyle . We were busy. We were very active. A lot of traveling. A lot of fun. She loves gardening, spending time on the water with her husband steve, when she is not busy running her Home Health Care business. Even with her busy life, monica says she always took good care of her health. Take me back to the spring and summer of 2012. You had a doctors appointment. Had you blood work done. Tell me about that. I do my annual physical every year. Im faithful to my health. I had gone back to my primary care. For about three years she had been watching my protein in my blood. Elevated m protein level can in rare cases develop into cancer. She said, you know what . I think you need to go see one of the best doctors around and find out whats going on. Lets get a professional opinion from a hematologist. Thats when monica went to see this man, a renounced doctor who specialized in blood cancers. Im with michigan hematology oncology. Here he is in a promotional video for his clinic. I received my medical training at the Memorial Sloankettering Cancer Center in new york. He was very highly recommended in the community. You were told this was the best. Absolutely. And i talked to several people. People said, he is the best cancer doctor out there. He is aggressive but very good. He was on the list of top docs in detroit. Several years in a row, and the practice was one stop shopping for cancer care. He owned his own testing lab, pharmacy and radiation Treatment Facility. On monicas first visit to his clinic, he diagnosed with smoldering myeloma, a precancerous condition that could turn into full blown cancer. This must have taken your breath away. It was awful. Suddenly, this is a serious illness. Correct. He told her his approach would be aggressive. She would be closely monitored with blood tests and painful bone marrow biopsies. Over the next few months, monica spent hours and hours at the clinic hooked up to iv drips, getting immune boosters to keep the cancer at bay. It was a real big lifestyle change. I had never seen a doctor that many times in my entire life. Luckily, monica had excellent insurance that would cover most of the bills. Which quickly started adding up to tens of thousands of dollars in just a few months. Monica had been assured that with this doctor, she was getting the best care money could buy. I really felt that in a sense it was doing gods work. He was doing gods work. This man was the Doctors Office manager and worked on the business side of the practice at the main clinic. 50foot ceilings, artwork, grand piano. I thought to myself, oncology bought all of this . Your initial impression was this is an incredibly successful guy. Incredibly. Incredibly. I really wondered you know how did he it. The doctor lived here in a ritzy suburb of detroit. His practice was big. He was treating 1700 patients at six clinics in the detroit area. It was huge. Especially for a single physician, the amount of people walking in and out the door was in credible. She worked for him and said he gave higher doses of drugs more frequently. Called it a european protocol. Thought it was way more than previously treated patients were getting. Theres a point you think not what i am used to but maybe it is not wrong. So having knowledge of a registered nurse. She was taken back by how aggressively he was treating her precancerous condition and was often annoyed to wait hours in the clinic to see him. He was very busy, he was hands on. Did you give him a bit of a pass, the fact you had to wait for him . Initially, yes. What was your impression personally. He was very difficult to understand. He was soft spoken. Monica was frustrated enough to go back to her primary care physician to talk about getting a second opinion. She convinced me hes the best there is. So monica continued to see him. After 8 months, he gave her some difficult news. Her condition was no longer smoldering. He was sitting almost as close as you and said, you now have fullblown multiple myeloma. This is what you have to do. We need to treat is what he said. How did you react to that . Its frightening. I was very scared. Multiple myeloma is a cancer of the blood that can be fatal. But the doctor explained that he would try to keep her alive with a lifetime regimen of chemotherapy. A toxic cocktail of drugs that can cause irreversible side effects. Sadly, we know people who have gone through chemotherapy. When you were told you were going to not only need chemotherapy but for your lifetime, how did you process that . It brought back a lot of i have a sister that had breast cancer. And the horror that she had to go through. And then i had a brother die of lung cancer. You knew exactly what chemotherapy was like. I knew what was in store. Absolutely. With those three words, you have cancer, she prepared to start chemotherapy, putting her trust and her life in the doctors hands. Coming up. Something puzzling in the clinic. He had cameras and microphones. Youre saying in this practice there were cameras to keep an eye on what people were doing . Yes. And another doctor makes an alarming diagnosed by her oncologist with blood cancer. Fullblown multiple myeloma. Steve asked him at one point, what are our options . And he said, you need to start this drug immediately. Or . Or you will die. He said you would die . Absolutely. Before starting chemotherapy, monica and her husband steve booked a vacation to costa rica. We needed to get away and regroup and start our life of cancer. How was that trip . Fabulous. Wonderful. We had a blast. In the back of your mind, this was, we get back, here we go, im going to be on chemo, being treated for cancer . Lifetime. Monica had her frustrations with dr. Fata. And his aggressive style of treatment. But she decided to stick with him. After all, he was considered the best cancer doctor in michigan. And very hands on. There were two other oncologists working for him, but monica was always treated by dr. Fata personally. He worked at his other clinic, an hour away from the main hub in detroit. Dr. Fata was so hands on, he even personally patients that treated closer to where the other doctor worked. Make the patient drive more than a half hour. It wasnt just clinical control dr. Fata maintained. In the practice, the Office Manager said he went to Great Lengths to ensure everything was done his way. He had cameras and microphones in the ceiling and walls. Him and his wife would periodically review that to ensure people were in the right place and saying the right things. Wait a minute. A lot of businesses have cameras. For security purposes so you dont steal stuff. You are saying in this practice there were cameras to keep an eye on what people were doing . Yes. Did you find that unusual . Well, i did find it unusual. But myself and a lot of others just thought it was something that he required because he was the kind of person that was very controlling. It was under the direction of dr. Fata that monica was given her first dose of chemotherapy on july 1, 2013. A nurse delivered the cocktail of chemo drugs and sent her home to rest. How did you feel afterwards . I was sad. I was frustrated. When you went home . It was really emotional for steve and i. Given what she had seen her Family Members go through, monica was bracing herself for the side effects to take hold. Steve and i decided to sit on the deck, just him and i, go outside and talk about the day. It started to rain. Monica rushed in to close the windows and tripped over her suitcase, still out from the trip to costa rica. Went flying up in the air. When i came down, when i came down, i hit the suitcase and fell. And when i fell, i then heard snap, snap. Monica had broken her leg in two places, steve, you are thinking, oh, no, now this . Yeah. I remember at the hospital i thought that chemotherapy in the morning and have to deal with this. It was horrible. Dr. Fata left on a short vacation to his home country of lebanon. In his absence, a young doctor, who worked in his clinics, was making rounds on all the practices cancer patients. And when i met the doctor, he explained to me who he was. And he kept looking at me very strangely. I found it very strange. Strange because he was puzzling over monicas charts, confused by the results of her blood work. Just looking at the chart, i could not believe what i was seeing. The information in front of him just wasnt making sense. He asked monica a series of questions. And then the next day i went to the office and look at all the everything that was scanned in all the blood tests and reports of dr. Fata, clinic notes. Staring at monicas records, he came to an unnerving but inescapable conclusion. He went back to the hospital and told her everything she believed about her cancer was wrong. Did he say the words, you dont have cancer . Yes. Yes. He told me, you do not have cancer. Coming up. No cancer . How can that be possible. I didnt believe him. Wild story. Im not buying it. Mexican gla. Mexican gla. Monica flag had just gotten the shock of her life. After beginning chemotherapy for a potentially fatal condition, she was told she did not have cancer. I think about that moment when it must have been like to have someone tell you you dont have cancer. I mean, you want to shout it to the world . I did. I called everybody i knew. It was. I was extremely happy. But i had a lot of anger. Anger because this young doctor also seemed to be telling her that her misdiagnosis was no innocent mistake. After reviewing her charts, he concluded that dr. Fata had been lying to monica all along. I see a patient one time and make a decision on a busy day, anybody can make a mistake. But this patient has been followed for a long time. He said to me, you need to find a new doctor. I will help you get your records. I dont want you to see dr. Fata again. Why was he so suspicious of his boss . It turns out, he had questions about dr. Fatas aggressive treatments style for months. He says he saw dr. Fata giving chemo to patients who were far too frail for the treatment. I always felt like, you know, some of the patients are too old, getting are getting chemotherapy and are too sick. There was a lot of discussion on that. He was the goto guy. He thought he was overtreating many patients. But monicas case appeared to be more egregious. Her treatment was completely unnecessary. At this point, he had already decided to resign. But worried challenging such a highly regarded doctor. Why would anybody believe me . Over him. He wanted to know why. I said i wont tell you here. They went downstairs to a room they were assured no one was listening or recording. Dr. Maunglay said dr. Fata was giving chemotherapy to a patient that didnt have cancer. I didnt believe him because quite frankly i knew of all of the other hands involved in patients. Surely somebody would have somebody would have said something. Here comes dr. Maunglays wild story. Left field stuff. Youre not buying it. I am not buying it. I thought he was trying to get out of the contract. Thought he wanted to take the other practitioners away and start his own practice. At that point i didnt think anything of it. Then i began two days later thinking about all of the comments that other practitioners made over the time i had been there. George has no medical training but he was aware that dr. Fatas unusually aggressive treatment was sometimes a point of conflict in the office. Nurses that came to me and said i didnt necessarily believe we should have given this injection. Doctors saying i dont feel comfortable with the treatment plan dr. Fata has. Suddenly all these conversations. These conversations come to mind. I started to think maybe, maybe dr. Maunglay has something. As monica absorbed the news she was not going to die from cancer, she, too, was looking back at her time with dr. Fata and realized she had doubts all along. The news confirmed all the suspicions, all of the red flags going off in your head. Absolutely. About him. As soon as i heard it, i was convinced that, you know, he was a bad doctor. This was just wrong. Something is going on bigger than her case. What was going on inside those cancer clinics . If monica wasnt the only one, how many more of dr. Fatas patients were being mistreated . Coming up. It was crazy. I thought the patient had no idea. Heres the question. Why would anyone treat people for cancers they didnt have . I thought oh my gosh, i know exactly what hes doing. Es doi. Dr. Maunglay suspected his boss, an esteemed cancer doctor, was a fraud. But who would believe him . To tell you the truth, i did not know who to trust. He had no idea he was not the first medical professional to have suspicions about dr. Fata. My biggest concerns were for those patients. Back in 2010, angela swantek, an oncology nurse was shadowing one of fatas nurses. Tell me what that day was supposed to be and how it went. That was the first time i got a glimpse of the infusion room. Patients were sitting stacked right next to each other. There was really no room for a Family Member to sit with them. As she watched the nurses work, she says she immediately saw potent cancer drugs being administered the wrong way. Out of 16 chairs that out of the patients that were sitting there, i dont think there were one that was getting anything appropriate. She says patients were getting drugs at higher doses and for longer time periods than she believed was medically necessary. And she was worried about the consequences to their health. To be clear, the things that you observed, are these things that are just unusual or just plain old wrong . They are plain wrong. Plain old wrong. You are not supposed to do them that way . No. No. Theres no gray area with chemotherapy. It has a specific route over a specific time. Angela turned down the job and left as quickly as she could. When you left that office that day, you are driving off, what are you thinking . I was horrified. Sitting in the parking lot, i remember getting into my car and i thought to myself, these patients have no idea the horrible care that they are receiving. She never saw any patient files. But came to her own conclusion about what was behind dr. Fatas treatment plan. So i thought to myself, oh, my gosh, i know exactly what he is doing. He is keeping these patients in the chair so he can bill the Insurance Company for more money. You summed that up in 20 minutes. Now three years later, this doctor was thinking the same thing. Monicas cancer diagnosis looked like part of a scheme to bilk patients and insurance companies. Monicas treatment would have cost close to 200,000 a year. She was a 50yearold, a professional woman who is healthy, most likely has good insurance. So dr. Fata would have given this treatment until she died, maybe one decade. Unnecessary treatment. He chose her, you know, for a reason. The Office Manager was mug over the allegations he heard from dr. Maunglay, that dr. Fata was prescribing toxic drugs to patients that didnt need them. I asked him if he could give me the name of the drugs, he said theres too many drugs. I said give me one drug. Just give me one drug. He gave me the name of a drug ibig. It is a powerful drug with serious side effects that should only be given to patients with specific immune system deficiency. Given to the wrong patient, it can be dangerous. George went to a trusted and experienced nurse and asked her what she knew about how fata was administering ivig. And she kind of went blank. Then she became sorrowful and then started to cry. It was crazy. It was like all these people were getting this medicine and never qualified for it. As it turns out, mary had recently discovered almost none of the patients she was treating with ivig needed it. Only two people really had needed this out of just one week, had needed this drug. Out of 40. Out of 40. She persuaded dr. Fata to stop prescribing that drug. But now she was realizing there was much more going on. George recalls you saying are we in trouble . What were your kurns . Are people going to think we had anything to do with what he was doing behind closed doors. Are people going to understand that we tried to do the best we could for them, give them the best possible care. Because you were the one physically administering this. Yes. You were worried there might be blow back because you were part of it. Uhhuh. And monica, who was still recovering from a broken leg had no idea what her case had set in motion. Were you aware what was transpiring over the next several weeks . No. But a lot was happening. I was in a mild panic to tell you the truth. George made copies of the practices financial records, took them to an attorney who was an expert in whistleblower cases. They tipped off the office of the u. S. Attorney for the Eastern District of michigan. I remember the case came in on a friday afternoon. We just received a tip from a whistleblower there was a doctor prescribing chemotherapy for patients who didnt have cancer. Most of us were skeptical whether that would be true. In case the stunning claims were true, mcquaid launched a team of investigators. And what they found would surprise everyone. Seems like each story i hear is worse than the next one. Coming up. I lost all my teeth. I had to have liver transplant. He told me i was going to die. Heart stopping stories and staggering revelation. I said patients were being harmed and that he needs to be investigated. Could all their pain have been prevented the family favorite. Yoplait. Well at least hes wearing shoes. Well done champ. Get gooey, flaky, happy. Toaster strudel. Amazing sleep stays with you all day and all night