Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of death. Reader discretion is advised.
The case of disgraced Indiana sinus surgeon Mark Weinberger, who is now living a new life in Florida, will air on Oxygen’s Dateline: Secrets Uncovered. The upcoming episode “A Wanted Man” explores Weinberger’s health fraud crimes and his life as an international fugitive. The episode premieres on the network this Wednesday, July 31, 2024, at 8 p.m. ET.
Reportedly, the families of two of Mark Weinberger’s former patients, Phyllis Barnes and Kayla Thomas, filed complaints against the doctor. They claimed that Weinberger, who ran a successful sinus clinic in Merriville, Indiana, performed unnecessary surgeries. Additionally, he failed to diagnose Barnes’ cancer and Kayla’s brain tumor. Weinberger also made millions by overbilling insurance companies for the needless surgeries or the ones he never performed.
Mark Weinberger then fled the country after taking his wife, Michelle Kramer, on a vacation to the Greek Islands. Italian authorities caught him in 2009, and three years later, he pleaded guilty to 22 health fraud counts. The disgraced surgeon served less than five years in federal prison before his 2014 release.
Mark Weinberger now: Where is the former surgeon today?
According to NBC Chicago, Dateline tracked down Mark Weinberger years after his prison release. The 2021 report stated they found him in Florida, living a new life in West Palm Beach with a new wife and two small children. The ex-convict has embarked on a fresh journey in cryptocurrency on YouTube and goes by the name Mark W. Moreover, an investigation into his online presence revealed that he now calls himself a yoga doctor and sells yoga classes via online videos.
Former sinus surgeon Mark Weinberger’s medical license was revoked in 2005 after he became an international fugitive. The year before, allegations concerning his malpractices first surfaced. Chicago Tribune stated that Weinberger failed to diagnose two of his patients, Phyllis Barnes and Kayla Thomas, with life-threatening conditions. Barnes’ family claimed the surgeon performed a negligent procedure and was unable to diagnose her cancer. She later died in 2004.
The second patient, then-eight-year-old Kayla Thomas, had a brain tumor that Mark Weinberger failed to diagnose. Additionally, the girl’s family claimed the sinus surgery was unnecessary and caused complications in her life afterward. Kayla’s mother, Valerie Thomas, sued Weinberger in 2004 after subsequent examinations found a tumor in her pituitary gland.
Valerie claimed that Kayla Thomas’ “head was three times the size” and that “she was starting to go blind.” The tumor that Mark Weinberger failed to diagnose “was pressing on her optic nerve.” Furthermore, Kayla recalled feeling “dizzy” and “nauseous” and stated that she “was throwing up all the time.” While doctors determined that Kayla’s tumor was not cancerous, the scar tissue from Weinberger’s unnecessary surgery complicated the process to remove it.
Reportedly, Valerie Thomas noted that surgeons “only got 10 percent” of the tumor while 90% still remains inside Kayla. While his patients suffered, Mark Weinberger made millions by overbilling insurance companies for these surgical procedures. Valerie believes Weinberger’s motive was “all about greed. He wanted as much money as he can get.”
Once his crimes began to surface, Mark Weinberger took his then-wife, Michelle Kramer, on a vacation to the Greek Islands in 2004. Kramer claimed they were there to celebrate her 30th birthday, but Weinberger abandoned her without an explanation. She revealed they were vacationing on a 79-foot powerboat in Mykonos when her husband ran away.
In the following years, an international manhunt for Mark Weinberger ensued, resulting in his arrest in 2009. Reportedly, Weinberger had been dating an Italian woman who saw his feature on America’s Most Wanted and turned him in. She told Italian authorities about his whereabouts, who then found him in the Alps. The fugitive had been living in a tent on a snowy mountainside.
Later, in 2012, Mark Weinberger pleaded guilty to 22 counts of health fraud and received a seven-year sentence in federal prison. By then, at least 300 of Weinberger’s former patients had sued him for their surgeries. In 2013, these individuals later settled for a shared amount of $55 million for medical malpractice. He got an early release in 2014.
Dateline: Secrets Uncovered will explore the case of Mark Weinberger on Oxygen this Wednesday.
