‘Dateline’ gives update on former Indiana sinus surgeon’s post-prison life
Mark Weinberger has been found — again.
The former Northwest Indiana sinus surgeon — once known as the “Nose Doctor” — is living in Florida and promoting a yoga lifestyle after serving time in federal prison for insurance fraud.
A new “Dateline” episode airing Friday follows WMAQ-Ch. 5 news anchor Rob Stafford as he tracks down Weinberger, who eluded authorities more than a decade ago as his legal troubles grew. Weinberger was eventually discovered in a tent outside a small Italian resort town in 2009. Months later, he pleaded guilty to 22 counts of health care fraud for allegedly billing insurance companies for procedures he did not actually perform.
Weinberger was released to a halfway house in Florida in 2014. He married an Illinois native five years later and once managed YogaDoctor LLC, Florida records show.
“We did some searching online, and we’re surprised to find Mark Weinberger is still calling himself a doctor — sort of, anyway. He’s now ‘Yoga Doc,’ selling classes to turn you from a nerd to a ninja, from a zero to a superhero,” Stafford says on the two-hour “Dateline” episode, which is scheduled to air at 8 p.m. on Channel 5.
“His webpage has all the come-ons of a late-night infomercial. Using video and slick phrases, he holds out the promise of fitness through badass muscle poses with minimal effort. His downloadable classes, some $200, offer results through his expertise. Sound familiar? Only now the goal isn’t to feel better through surgery, but to look cool with superhero yoga moves.”
The broadcast recalls the rise and fall of Weinberger, who turns 58 years old next week. The Ivy-League-educated doctor abandoned his Merrillville sinus clinic and his Chicago wife, Michelle Kramer, in 2004 as malpractice allegations piled up. He started a new life in Europe. An Italian girlfriend reported his whereabouts to officials after Weinberger was featured on “America’s Most Wanted.”
Stafford interviews Kramer and family members of two former Weinberger patients, Phyllis Barnes and Kayla Thomas. Weinberger performed sinus surgery on Barnes, but failed to diagnose her cancer. The Valparaiso woman died in 2004, years before her family won a civil negligence lawsuit against Weinberger.
Weinberger performed unnecessary sinus surgery on Thomas, who was later found to have a brain tumor. Now an adult, Thomas shared her plans to be an internist and pediatrician on “Dateline.” “I didn’t do it to somehow right (Weinberger’s) wrongs,” Thomas said about becoming a doctor. “I did it because when he decided to run, there were other doctors that were like, Hey, I’ll take care of you.”
Crimes committed years ago in Chicago suburbs have recently found their way back into the TV spotlight. Last week, the ABC series “20/20″ revisited the 2004 murder of 3-year-old Riley Fox in Will County.
The 1993 killing of 18-year-old Tricia Pacaccio in the Glenview area was explored on an April episode of Investigation Discovery’s “People Magazine Investigates.” Also last month, an episode of the Discovery Plus series “Evil Lives Here: Shadows of Death” recalled the case against a man convicted of drowning his wife in South Barrington in 2000.
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