According to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice, Bloomfield, Hills, Michigan neurosurgeon Aria Sabit, M.D. recently entered guilty pleas to several counts of health care fraud in two separate criminal cases before the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. A hearing to determine his sentence will be held in September.
As previously reported on the Sommers Schwartz blog, Sabit, owner and operator of the Michigan Brain & Spine Physicians Group with offices in Southfield, Michigan, Clinton Township, and Dearborn, was accused of profiting from various fraudulent practices, including:
- Convincing patients to undergo spinal surgeries to implant medical devices and billing private and public health insurance providers more than $11 million, but not actually performing the procedures
- Implanting cortical bone dowels in surgical patients instead of more complex medical devices designed to stabilize and strengthen the spine
- Purposely entering false statements in patients’ medical records to conceal his fraudulent acts
These wrongful acts also constitute neurosurgical malpractice, and Dr. Sabit’s admissions will provide evidence in the medical malpractice lawsuits that Sommers Schwartz has brought on behalf of unwitting patients he victimized.
Dr. Sabit’s illicit activities in Michigan are not his first criminal endeavor. He also admitted that, before moving to the state, he engaged in a similar venture in California, causing serious bodily injury to spinal surgery patients by performing medical unnecessary procedures involving implant devices manufactured by Apex Medical Technologies LLC, a company Sabit co-owned. He also admitted to paying kickbacks to other neurosurgeons to use Apex devices and to “over instrumenting” patients by implanting more devices than were medically necessary.
The attorneys in Sommers Schwartz’s Medical Malpractice Litigation Group continue the fight to recover damages for their clients’ injuries, targeting not only Dr. Sabit but also the hospitals and clinic where he performed the surgeries.
Robert B. Sickels
For more than 30 years, Robert Sickels has successfully represented plaintiffs involved in complex personal injury, medical negligence, and products liability matters.
