Diagnosed healthy patients as chronically ill
The money was spent on an extravagant life: he owned 13 properties, a private jet and a Maserati Granturismo. At the same time, his patients – not only mentally, but also physically. Several people suffered from the medicine: jaws, liver damage, hair loss, blood clots and disabling pain. One described how life in bed without the opportunity to rise made all the meaning to disappear.
In addition to patients, his employees were also used as pieces. He mainly employed persons on J-1 visa-temporary foreign health workers-which, according to the case documents, he threatened with firing and deportation if they did not participate in the scam. Several were fired if they did not order enough unnecessary treatments of healthy patients.
Other Texas rheumatologists who testified during the trial could confirm that they had seen a myriad of patients previously treated by Zamora-Quezada-all without any signs of the suffering they had been diagnosed with.
The case has left deep traces in Texan society. Many of the victims continue to struggle with health problems as a result of the unnecessary treatments they have been exposed to. Still, the verdict has provided some form of relief among those affected and their families who have long been waiting for justice.
In addition to the prison sentence and three years of supervision after the release, Zamora-Quezada has to pay over $ 28 million back to the affected insurance companies and authorities. Among the assets he loses is his properties, jets and luxury cars.
