Chicago judge throws out fugitive surgeon's plea deal

U.S. District Judge Phillip Simon rejected a plea agreement for surgeon Mark Weinberger, saying the insurance fraud totaling $318,000 likely does not encompass the full scope of Weinberger’s alleged crimes. Simon said he would not consider the numerous letters from outraged patients because Weinberger was charged only with defrauding insurance companies by allegedly billing them for work he never did. “That is for a civil court to decide, whether the defendant was a good doctor or a not-so-good doctor. This is a straightforward insurance fraud case,” Simon said. The case is now set for trial unless Weinberger's court-appointed attorneys are able to negotiate a new deal with prosecutors. The ruling by Simon was another patch of turbulence in Weinberger's bizarre fall from grace.