Aria O Sabit, Medicare Health Care Fraud, MI 2024

Detroit-area neurosurgeon Dr. Aria O. Sabit, 43, of Birmingham, Michigan, was sentenced today to 235 months in federal prison for masterminding a $2.8 million health care fraud scheme that left patients physically damaged and financially gutted. Sabit admitted to performing unnecessary spinal surgeries and falsifying medical records to bill Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurers for procedures he never performed — all to line his pockets and boost profits from a secret medical device venture.

Sabit, a licensed neurosurgeon and owner of Michigan Brain and Spine Physicians Group, pleaded guilty to four counts of health care fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, and one count of unlawful distribution of a controlled substance. Court documents reveal he systematically defrauded insurers by billing for spinal fusion surgeries with “instrumentation” — metal implants designed to stabilize the spine — while actually using cheap cortical bone dowels made from donor tissue. In some cases, he didn’t use any implants at all, yet still submitted claims as if he had.

The fraud ran deep. Sabit admitted to dictating false operative reports, knowing they would be used to justify fraudulent insurance claims. He routinely billed for lumbar and thoracic fusion implants that were never implanted, while patients walked away with permanent injuries from surgeries they didn’t need. Federal prosecutors called it a betrayal of the Hippocratic Oath — a cold, calculated scheme where spinal columns were collateral and profit margins were king.

The scheme didn’t start in Michigan. Before relocating, Sabit was a neurosurgeon in Ventura, California, where in February 2010 he secretly joined Apex Medical Technologies LLC — a medical device company owned by another surgeon and three non-physicians. In exchange for a cut of profits, Sabit pushed his hospital to buy Apex devices and used them in excess, even when medically unjustified. He and the co-owners concealed his financial stake from hospitals and surgical centers, violating federal conflict-of-interest laws.

Those financial incentives directly corrupted patient care. Sabit admitted that the money he earned from Apex drove him to perform more complex and unnecessary spine surgeries, exposing patients to serious bodily harm for the sake of device sales. In several instances, he referred patients for invasive procedures they didn’t need, all to generate revenue for the company. The fallout wasn’t just financial — lives were derailed by chronic pain, failed recoveries, and irreversible damage.

The case was investigated by the FBI, HHS-OIG, and ICE-HSI in Detroit, with parallel probes in California handled by the FBI and HHS-OIG as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force. Authorities emphasized that health care fraud isn’t a victimless crime — real patients paid the price. Sentencing reflects the severity: 235 months behind bars for a doctor who traded ethics for profit and left a trail of broken bodies in his wake.