A Texas physician was found guilty Jan. 15 for his role in a $325 million healthcare fraud scheme that involved falsely diagnosing patients with various degenerative diseases and then administering chemotherapy and other toxic drugs to patients based on the false diagnoses, according to the Department of Justice.
After a 25-day trial, Jorge Zamora-Quezada, MD, was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, seven counts of healthcare fraud and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice.
Dr. Zamora-Quezada was charged in an indictment unsealed in May 2018. In addition to falsely diagnosing patients and administering unneeded drugs, he also allegedly conducted a battery of other fraudulent and excessive medical procedures on patients to increase revenue and fund his opulent lifestyle. Many patients, some as young as 13, suffered physical and emotional harm as a result of the false diagnoses and unnecessary procedures and chemotherapy injections, according to the Justice Department.
"The conduct in this case was heinous. Dr. Zamora-Quezada falsely diagnosed vulnerable patients, including the young, elderly, and disabled, with life-long diseases requiring invasive treatments that those patients did not in fact need," Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department's Criminal Division said in a news release. "Today's guilty verdict shows that the Department of Justice will work tirelessly to protect the public from unscrupulous medical professionals who greedily line their own pockets at the expense of their patients' health and safety."
Dr. Zamora-Quezada is expected to be sentenced on March 27.