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Inset: Dr. Jorge Zamora-Quezada (San Antonio FBI). Background, clockwise from left: Zamora-Quezada’s patient file storage facility, one of Zamora-Quezada’s luxury properties, Zamora-Quezada’s jet (DOJ).
A Texas rheumatologist is headed to prison after he defrauded Medicare and Medicaid by performing unnecessary procedures — including chemotherapy on healthy patients — and falsely diagnosed others with chronic illnesses.
And he did it just so he could live a luxurious lifestyle with fancy cars, a jet and dozens of high-end real estate properties.
Dr. Jorge Zamora-Quezada, 68, was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years in federal prison for one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, seven counts of health care fraud, and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice, the Department of Justice said in a press release. A jury convicted Zamora-Quezada after a 25-day trial in 2020.
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Zamora-Quezada made some $118 million in false claims to Medicare and Medicaid and received more than $28 million from insurance companies for tests and treatments his patients did not need. He was ordered to repay the insurance companies the $28 million he stole.
After wrongly diagnosing his patients with rheumatoid arthritis, he prescribed them toxic medications that severely impacted their lives “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,” the government stated.
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“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 patient testified.
A mother felt as if her child was a “lab rat.” Young patients said they were “living a life in the body of an elderly person.”
Other doctors who testified at his trial said it was “obvious” that the patients did not have any chronic diseases.
The DOJ said it was imperative Zamora-Quezada face justice.
“Dr. Zamora-Quezada funded his luxurious lifestyle for two decades by traumatizing his patients, abusing his employees, lying to insurers, and stealing taxpayer money,” said Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “His depraved conduct represents a profound betrayal of trust toward vulnerable patients who depend on care and integrity from their doctors. Today’s sentence is not just a punishment — it’s a warning. Medical professionals who harm Americans for personal enrichment will be aggressively pursued and held accountable to protect our citizens and the public.”
According to a courtroom report from MySanAntonio.com, nearly 20 victims offered statements, including Miranda Hinojosa, who was transported by ambulance. She told the court she is now bedridden due to the unnecessary chemo provided by Zamora-Quezada starting when she was 11 years 0ld.
Said another victim: “I hope you rot in hell!”
