MISSION, Texas (Gray News) – A doctor in Texas has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after he was convicted of falsely diagnosing patients with diseases they did not have in order to fund his lavish lifestyle.
According to the Department of Justice, Dr. Jorge Zamora-Quezada, M.D., was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, seven counts of health care fraud, and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice.
He was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years in prison and three years of supervised release.
In addition to his prison term, Zamora-Quezada was ordered to forfeit over $28 million, including 13 real estate properties, a private jet and a Maserati GranTurismo.
Zamora-Quezada ran a health care fraud scheme involving over $118 million in false claims and the payment of over $28 million by insurers as a result of him falsely diagnosing patients with chronic illnesses to bill for tests and treatments that the patients did not need.
Officials said he did this for two decades.
The DOJ said Zamora-Quezada was a rheumatologist working in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, near the Mexico border.
The 68-year-old also falsified patient records to support the false diagnoses.
The fake diagnoses made patients believe they had lifelong, incurable conditions that required regular treatment in his office. These unnecessary treatments included a variety of injections, infusions, X-rays, MRIs and other procedures.
Because they were taking medications and treatments they did not need, many patients suffered severe side effects, including strokes, necrosis of the jawbone, hair loss, liver damage, and pain so severe that basic tasks of everyday life, such as bathing, cooking and driving, became difficult.
As one patient testified, “Constantly being in bed and being unable to get up from bed alone, and being pumped with medication, I didn’t feel like my life had any meaning.”
One mother described how she felt that her child served as a “lab rat,” and others described abandoning plans for college or feeling like they were “living a life in the body of an elderly person.”
Other rheumatologists in the area who treated patients that previously saw Zamora-Quezada said it was immediately obvious that they did not have the diseases and conditions that they had been diagnosed with.
One doctor testified at trial that for “most patients” it was “obvious that the patient did not have rheumatoid arthritis.”
Former employees also testified that Zamora-Quezada imposed strict quotas for procedures.
One employee said he threw a paperweight at them for failing to generate enough unnecessary procedures.
Other employees said he hired them because they were on J-1 visas and their immigration status could be jeopardized if they lost their jobs.
He also fired employees who challenged him.
“This case was not only a concern to us because of the financial loss — the physical and emotional harm suffered by the patients and their families was alarming and profound,” said Special Agent in Charge Aaron Tapp of the FBI’s San Antonio Field Office. “We hope this significant sentence will help bring closure to the many victims in this case.”
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