On Wednesday, a jury convicted a Texas doctor who falsely diagnosed patients with permanent diseases and unnecessarily subjected some to chemotherapy drugs as part of a $ 325 million healthcare fraud case.
Jorge Zamora-Quezada, M.D., a 63-year-old rheumatologist, falsely told patients they had diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, and treated them with unnecessary medications such as chemotherapy drugs, according to the Department of Justice. He then falsely billed the insurers millions of dollars.
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“The conduct in this case was atrocious,” Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said in a statement. “Dr. Zamora-Quezada misdiagnosed vulnerable patients, including the young, the elderly and the disabled, with lifelong diseases that required invasive treatments that those patients didn’t really need.”
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Zamora-Quezada ran medical practices throughout southern Texas and San Antonio and traveled to his various offices on his private jet and Maserati, law enforcement said.
After a 25-day trial, a federal jury found Zamora-Quezada, of Mission, Texas, guilty of one count for health fraud, seven counts of health fraud, and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice. He is scheduled to be sentenced on March 27 by United States District Judge Ricardo Hinojosa of the Southern District of Texas, who presided over the trial.
The doctor played a role in a $ 325 million health fraud scheme in which he falsely diagnosed large numbers of patients with rheumatoid arthritis, a lifelong incurable disease, and treated them with toxic drugs such as chemotherapy drugs. based on that false diagnosis, the Justice Department said.