"Ind. doctor nabbed in Italy gets 7 years in prison" by Tom Coyne |
Associated Press, October 13, 2012
HAMMOND, Ind. — A former Indiana surgeon arrested on a snowy Italian
mountainside after five years on the run was sentenced to seven years in
prison Friday for billing insurers and patients for procedures he
didn’t perform.
A federal judge imposed a more severe sentence than expected against
Mark Weinberger, who ran a Merrillville nose and sinus clinic until he
disappeared during a European vacation shortly before he was charged.
US District Judge Philip Simon noted that by running from his
problems, Weinberger hurt his clinic’s 40 workers and hundreds of
patients who couldn’t access their medical records after he fled.
‘‘I am very certain he knew at the time his world was collapsing
around him,’’ Simon said. ‘‘Instead of addressing this collapsing, he
fled from it.’’
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