This week, we chat about gross foot stuff, Harry Potter and the Yorkshire Ripper death. We review Dr Death Season 2 and Carmel: Who Killed Maria Marta?. And we finish with a couple of watermelon heads.
Dr Death Season 2
This week for our review section we’re talking about Season 2 of Dr Death. Anna mentioned this one which thank god because it wasn’t posted under “Dr Death” but listed as a new podcast.
Technically the podcast is listed as 6 episode but the whole story is wrapped up within the first 4. Which is actually pretty nice, I’d like more podcasts to be 4 episodes. Because of this there is no dragging on, no real padding or bulking out the story. We get right to the point.
A nurse is shadowing another nurse at Dr. Fata’s oncology clinic. She wants to see how the department runs before she decides to go for a job there. What she find is shocking. So many rules and regulations are broken or completely disregarded. For a cancer treatment centre of that size, there are SO MANY PATIENTS. Medical equipment, drugs and even medical waste isn’t handled properly. All in all, she’s shocked and declines the job.
Once home, she gets online and immediately reports the office and the doctor/oncologist in charge, Dr. Farid Fata, a Michigan doctor with a pristine resumé. She leaves all of her contact details because she WANTS to be interviewed and to tell what she’s seen.
Meanwhile, we also hear from the office manager who starts noticing that things aren’t right. He then also reports Dr Fata. This is when it when it all comes crashing down and the FBI get involved.
In short: Dr. Fata told patients they had cancer when they did not. He gave chemotherapy to patients who did not need it. He overdosed AND under-dosed patients who had cancer. He did whatever he could to bill for treatments that patients didn’t need and he could be paid from insurance companies.
Just let that sink in.
This doctor gave chemotherapy to patients who DID NOT NEED IT.
Not surprisingly, many patients died under his care. Some were completely healthy when they met Dr. Fata. Some had illnesses that were very treatable. Either way, they died because of his treatment. The interviews with those loved ones are heart-breaking – a lot of them blame themselves for pushing their loved one to continue treatment with Dr. Fata, even when the patient themselves wanted to stop.
After the FBI investigation, Dr Fata’s victims and family members of those who died got to face him in court. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room – except for Dr. Fata.
In the end, he pleaded guilty to charges of health care fraud, conspiracy to pay and receive kickbacks, and money laundering. On July 10, 2015, he was sentenced to 45 years in federal prison.
The podcast touches on various topics, like how in the medical field, many professionals do not want to “rat out” another medical professional as it can taint their own career and make it more difficult for them to be hired (even if the person they tell on is doing wrong).
It also touches on the fact that this case wasn’t really brought to light due to the mistreatment of patients but actually insurance fraud. It looks like it’s more about the money.
Carmel: Who Killed Maria Marta?
Carmel: Who Killed Maria Marta? is a four part series on Netflix. It follows the story of the death of Maria Marta Garcia Belsunce and what happens after. It is directed by Alejandro Hartmann and was released on the 5 November. In October 2002, 50 year old Maria Marta Garcia Belsunce is found dead, slumped over a full bathtub, fully dressed by her husband, Carlos Carrascosa. The live in a prestigious, rich, gated community called the Carmel Country Club which is just outside of Buenos Airesin Argentina. Think guards at the gate, swimming pools, the whole shebang. Maria Marta is a sociologist and her husband is a stock-broker.
Initially we are given Carlos’s version of events:
They had both been at Maria Marta’s sisters house. Maria Marta had left earlier as she had a regular appointment with a masseuse who came to her home. Carlos stayed to watch the football. He returns home and finds one of the community guards outside his house. The guard says, we’ve been calling the house – the masseuse is here, she is at the gate – but can’t get an answer. Carlos thinks that’s weird but says to the guard, let the masseuse in. Carlos goes inside to check and he finds his wife, fully clothed, half over a bathtub. He hears the masseuse pull up outside and runs to window, opens it and says ‘leave your bags in the car, Maria Marta has had an accident, help”. He says that she has slipped and hit her head. He drags her out of the bath, onto the bathroom floor, she is sort of half in the doorway between the bathroom and the bedroom. Ambulances are called, doctors are called, other phone calls are made, and it’s all a bit chaotic. Sadly, Maria Marta is dead.
It’s originally ruled as an accident by Police and Carlos. This is where it goes haywire. Carlos and the family get a premade death certificate signed so they can make arrangements for her to be buried smoothly. Her body is placed in the family home, her hair was washed, her makeup was done (although this is speculated), her clothes are changed and she is laid in bed. This is for the wake. It’s now a murder investigation.
Not long after her death, someone questions her death. Maria Marta was 50 years old and was fit and healthy. She was wearing trainers in the bathroom and the story of her slipping, was queried. They think there should be an autopsy. The result of the autopsy is that she has been shot in the head six times. It’s now a murder investigation. The media go wild on this. They suspect Carlos, they suspect a neighbour, they suspect almost every member of their family – and there are a shit ton of those, they think it’s a robbery gone wrong, they think Carlos murdered her because she found out he was money laundering, they think a hit was taken out on her as she worked with a charity that dealt with missing children, every imaginable scenario for the death of Maria Marta is guessed up. There is even an allegation that Maria Marta and Carlos are brother and sister and agreed not to have any children. It’s just pandemonium.
There is a big theme throughout one of the trials and that is that someone pulled the trigger but was assisted by others in trying to cover up the murder. There are a couple of things that smack of cover up so the conspiracy theory wheels just start churning – like, the masseuse being ordered to clean the bathroom whilst Maria Marta’s body lay on the floor. Someone finds this little bit of metal in the bathroom – it looks like a tiny cylinder of metal that has been flattened at one end – they call this a ‘pituto’ which roughly translates to a ‘thingy’ and the person who finds it, just flushes down the loo. They find an adhesive compound on her scalp that could have been used to glue up the holes. Some of the family refuse to give DNA or blood samples for a bit. We won’t go into any more specifics but there is a few trials, some people do go to prison, some people get exonerated etc but definitely worth a watch.
Anna’s sources:
Yorkshire Ripper:
Watermelon Head Weird Crime Time:
https://www.oxygen.com/crime-news/justin-rogers-allegedly-wears-watermelon-while-stealing