Rogue Spine Surgeon Seeks Mercy As He Faces Prison
DETROIT (WWJ/AP) - A Detroit-area doctor who hurt patients and cheated insurers through spinal surgeries is seeking mercy from a federal judge.
Dr. Aria Sabit is returning to Detroit federal court Friday for his sentence. He pleaded guilty to fraud, acknowledging that he performed unnecessary or improper surgeries that caused serious injury.
Sabit also said he got kickbacks in Ventura, California, for using certain implants. His sentencing guidelines call for a prison term of at least nine years, but his lawyer is asking a judge to go below the guidelines.
Joseph Niskar says Sabit is remorseful and there's no need to lock him up for nearly a decade.
Sabit moved to the Detroit area in 2011 while he was under investigation by regulators in California.
The criminal complaint against Sabit describes allegations of malpractice involving five patients, but the FBI believes there are many more who learned their back surgery wasn't the procedure promised by the doctor. The indictment against him says patients didn't know about faulty back surgeries until they had another doctor examine them.
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