EP 136: Mark Weinberger, the Scammy Nose Doctor

This week on Hashtag History, we will be discussing Mark Weinberger, known as “The Nose Doctor”. To put it bluntly, Weinberger, a doctor who opened up his own practice in Indiana, was performing hundreds of unnecessary - and sometimes, negligent - sinus procedures on patients. In fact, according to a Vanity Fair article, he recommended surgery to 90% of his patients! 90%! That is an overwhelming number! Many of these patients either did not actually need the surgery OR were misdiagnosed with sinus problems when, in fact, they had things like cancer.

As medical malpractice and insurance fraud lawsuits began to stack up, Weinberger decided to hop ship and travel to Greece with his third wife to celebrate her thirtieth birthday. While on this vacation, Weinberger disappeared without telling his wife where he was going. She would soon find out that he had left her with more than $6 million in debt. Weinberger would not be found until five years later in the European Alps when his girlfriend spotted him on an episode of America’s Most Wanted.

Despite pleading guilty to 22 counts of healthcare fraud in 2011, Weinberger is now a free man…and you are not even ready to hear what kind of scammy operation he is running now.

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- Rachel and Leah