As reported in the Detroit News, criminal charges were brought this week against Dr. Aria Sabit, a Bloomfield Hills neurosurgeon who authorities believe defrauded Medicare by performing unnecessary spinal surgeries on unwitting patients, according to a complaint unsealed Monday in federal court.

The criminal complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, alleges that Sabit performed lumbar spinal fusions on several patients but failed to install medical devices in patients whose pain continued after the procedures:

Subsequently, after continuing pain, all patients received second opinions from other doctors stating that no such spinal fusion had been performed and there was no evidence of any screw, or any medical device in the spinal column of the patient.

In addition to seeing patients in his office, Sabit also had staff privileges at the Detroit Medical Center, Doctor’s Hospital of Michigan in Pontiac, and McLaren Lapeer Regional Medical Center. He was previously licensed in California, where he was the subject of more than two-dozen medical malpractice lawsuits between 2009 and 2010. He surrendered his California medical license in July 2014.

Sommers Schwartz attorneys Richard Groffsky and Robert Sickels represent two Michigan patients who have accused Sabit of committing medical malpractice in the course of their care. If you or someone you know was a patient of Dr. Sabit, and believe that he was professionally negligence in providing medical treatment, please contact us today for a free consultation – the law gives you only a limited amount of time to pursue your right to a recovery.