POD SPINE SURGEON SABIT GETS 20 YEARS IN PRISON (Orthopedics This Week)
Aria Sabit, M.D. is going to jail for almost 20 years if he completes a sentence imposed in January by a federal judge in Michigan.
Sabit pled guilty back in May 2015 to a $2.8 million healthcare fraud scheme for filing false claims that the government said, "caused serious bodily harm to patients by performing unnecessary invasive spinal surgeries.”
Sabit came to light in September 2014 when the Department of Justice (DOJ) sued Utah-based Reliance Medical Systems, LLC and Sabit, among others, in California federal court over an alleged kickback scheme involving physician owned distributors (PODs) and physician investors. The physicians were allegedly being paid based on the number of Reliance Medical spinal implants they used. Sabit was one of the surgeons named in that complaint through a Reliance Medical POD named Apex Medical Technologies, Inc.
Although Sabit's prosecution, guilty plea and sentencing in Michigan were not directly related to his involvement in a POD in California, the government went to great lengths in the announcement of the sentencing to say that Sabit agreed to convince his California ho...
