A group of former patients and their spouses has sued a Bay Area medical device company in federal court in San Francisco in connection with an offshore clinic that treated their cancer by filtering cancer cells from their blood.

The lawsuit filed Wednesday alleges that Martinez-based ExThera Medical Corporation was part of a fraudulent scheme that preyed on patients with metastatic cancer by touting an unproven technology for treating cancer patients. Three of the patients have since died and the others have allegedly seen their cancers worsen.

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Joe Dworetzky is a second career journalist. He practiced law in Philadelphia for more than 35 years, representing private and governmental clients in commercial litigation and insolvency proceedings. Joe served as City Solicitor for the City of Philadelphia under Mayor Ed Rendell and from 2009 to 2013 was one of five members of the Philadelphia School Reform Commission with responsibility for managing the city’s 250 public schools. He moved to San Francisco in 2011 and began writing fiction and pursuing a lifelong interest in editorial cartooning. Joe earned a Master’s in Journalism from Stanford University in 2020. He covers Legal Affairs and writes long form Investigative stories. His occasional cartooning can be seen in Bay Area Sketchbook. Joe encourages readers to email him story ideas and leads at joe.dworetzky@baycitynews.com.