What might explain a doctor who cons patients and hides in the wild for five years?
Story from “This is True” by Randy Cassingham, with his “tagline:”
“EASILY RECOGNIZABLE: Police say Mark Weinberger, a plastic surgeon from Merrillville, Ind., talked patients into expensive surgical procedures and either did a bad job or just took the money and did nothing. The 46-year-old doctor then ran, even taking survival gear so he could hide in the wild, leaving behind hundreds of patients and insurance companies claiming fraud or malpractice, more than $5 million in debts, and his wife. Now, five years later, police in Italy found him hiding in a tent at 6,000′ on Mont Blanc. After his arrest, Weinberger took out a hidden box cutter and slit his own throat, but missed all critical structures and survived. He is awaiting extradition to the U.S. (Northwest Indiana Times, AP) …A surgeon and he missed his own carotid and jugular? Yeah, I’m pretty sure he’s guilty in every case of malpractice.”
No doubt. And the numerous cases of alleged malpractice were probably exacerbated by the use of alcohol and other drugs, including perhaps the anesthetic drugs he gives (or is supposed to give) to patients.
In my early research, Dr. Doug Talbott, who ended up writing the forward to Drunks, Drugs & Debits, told me his specialty as an addiction doctor was treating doctors. He also told me a scary statistic: that approximately 20% of all U.S. doctors have the disease of alcohol and other-drug addiction, double that of the overall population.
The medical field is a terrific one for budding young addicts. The reverence that most hold for their title allows them to easily wield power over others. The money they often earn serves to increase that power. And, of course, they have extraordinary access to drugs.
It’s interesting to note, as well, the effect that this one addict had over others. To emphasize: there were hundreds of alleged victims. Consider, too, how many opportunities there must have been for close persons and the law to have intervened and put a stop to the insanity in Mark Weinberger’s life. That they didn’t stop him serves as testimony for the idea that addicts are brilliant at conniving others. It also supports the idea that we can do so much more to address the issue of addiction earlier, rather than after so many have lost so much.
(Story and tagline from “This is True,” copyright 2010 by Randy Cassingham, used with permission.)