Patients Unhappy With Dr. Mark Weinberger's Plea Deal

Hammond, Ind. - Despite pleading guilty to nearly two dozen federal fraud charges, some patients in Northwest Indiana believe their former doctor, Mark Weinberger, is getting a "sweetheart deal."

Weinberger is the infamous sinus doctor who disappeared mysteriously in 2004. At the time, he and his then-wife Michelle were living a lavish lifestyle filled with private jets and jewelry. They were vacationing together on a Greek island when she woke up one morning and he was gone. Italian police found him five years later later-- hiding in a tent in the mountains.

More than 300 medical malpractice lawsuits have since been filed against Weinberger, many alleging that he performed unnecessary surgeries that only made patients' conditions worse and billed them for treatments that he never provided. He's pleaded guilty to 22 counts of health care fraud in exchange for four years in prison. Those charges could send him away for the rest of his life, but now, it's up to a federal judge whether to accept the deal.

Gladys Donohue is one of about a dozen former patients who have written letters to the federal judge hearing the case, demanding that he reject the deal. She said that Weinberger performed surgery on her, and instead of getting better, she ended up in the hospital.

"I think it is terrible," Donohue said. "I think he should get much more [than four years]."

Attorney Ken Allen, who's representing Donohue and dozens of other former patients, said that Weinberger billed them $15,000 for surgeries and $1,500 for post-operative visits.

"He collected a very, very handsome fee, earning up to a million- eight or two million a month," Allen said.

Weinberger took off, though, when patient Phyllis Barnes died in September of 2004. Last month, a civil jury in Lake County, Indiana, found that Weinberger committed malpractice when he treated Barnes for a deviated septum and nasal polyps instead of diagnosing her with stage four throat cancer and awarded her estate $13 million.

Her daughter, Shawn Barnes, said that her mother had to have her voice box removed before she died.

"She just sort of suffered on a daily basis because her life was so radically changed by having that hole in her throat to breathe," Shawn Barnes said. "He actually fled the country right after her obituary was in the newspaper. Four years in jail seems like kind of a joke, for as many people as he hurt."

We asked the U.S. Attorney's Office in Hammond about the patients' letters and the doctor's plea deal, and a spokesperson told us, "No comment."

"He could be prosecuted much more harshly than he has been, and I'm hoping that the U.S. Attorney's office will consider re-indicting him on further charges," Allen said. He deserves much more than what he's been charged with, and what he's looking at in terms of punishment is just inappropriate."

Weinberger is scheduled to be sentenced on April 27.