Dec. 31, 2014 (macombdaily.com)–A Southfield-based doctor from Bloomfield Hills is seeking a bond as his medical malpractice case heads toward trial, but prosecutors fear he may flee to his native Afghanistan if released.
Aria Sabit, accused of improperly performing lumbar spinal fusions, has been in custody since late November, when a criminal complaint was unsealed in federal court in Detroit. Officials said Sabit failed to place medical devices in patients’ spinal columns during lumbar spinal fusion surgeries despite billing the patient’s insurer for the device.
Patients who sought second opinions after they did not see any improvement in their conditions learned that the devices were never implanted.
Several medical and auto insurance companies are among insurers who paid for the devices to be implanted.
Sabit operates the Michigan Brain and Spine Physicians Group. He was born in Afghanistan, moved to Pakistan at age 5 and came to Virginia three years later. He completed medical school in 2009 and moved to California before moving to Birmingham in 2011, according to an order of detention filed by U.S. Magistrate Judge David R. Grand.
In 2013, Sabit became a U.S. citizen. He is also accused of failing to disclose the medical fraud when obtaining that citizenship.
In California, more than two dozen medical malpractice actions were filed against Sabit in an 18-month span, the order of detention states. The Medical Board of California filed papers against Sabit, accusing him of performing unnecessary spinal surgeries on multiple patients and making false claims within patients’ medical files. In July of this year, Sabit signed an order agreeing that he would “lose all rights and privileges as a physician and surgeon in the state of California,” according to the order of detention.
Sabit said he voluntarily surrendered the medical license there because the legal fees for the related proceedings became too costly to maintain.
Between learning that he was the target of an investigation into his medical practices and being arrested, Sabit made six or seven trips outside the U.S., primarily to the Middle East. He attended a conference in Dubai regarding conducting business in the region, traded precious gems, developed plans to construct a private hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan and incorporated a mineral and oil business in Michigan with an objective of carrying out extensive mining in Afghanistan, the document states. Sabit has invested $300,000 of his own money into the Afghanistan hospital.
The order of detention also stated that a person who partnered with Sabit in at least one endeavor in the Middle East said he would not be safe if Sabit were released from custody.
“In sum, while Sabit presents some meaningful evidence which suggests that he would not flee, the court finds that the government has presented slightly more evidence that Sabit is a flight risk,” the order of detention states.
“Accordingly, this factor tips in favor of detention.”
Sabit has offered to pay $2.5 million or more in equity fromn four homes he would forfeit if he flees, as well as a waiver of extradition and surrender of the passports of his entire family, according to his appeal of the order of detention.
A hearing regarding the appeal of the bond decision was held Monday, but the judge did not make an immediate decision, according to The Associated Press.