has concealed and attempts to kill himself. though weinberger managed to inflict a superficial cut on his neck, police officers were able to stop him before he did serious damage. some say he was trying to attempt suicide so he would get placed in a prison hospital. i don t think he was thinking that far ahead. i think he was trying to kill himself. days later, while recovering in a hospital, he tried again, this time by putting a plastic bag over his head. he did not want to go back. there was too much, a trail of devastation. within a week, news of mark weinberger s arrest was everywhere. in merrillville, indiana, former patients woke to find their nose doctor on the front page. in alabama, michelle kramer, the wife he had abandoned, was just wrapping up another long day as a psychology intern when she heard the news. tears started coming out of my eyes and i didn t know if they were tears of joy or tears of sadness.
and you re back and you can t even pay the water bill. right. and i m sitting there crying every night listening to our songs, you know, mourning his loss and he s in the south of france. his credit card tally in the south of france alone added up to more than $50,000. since there s no law against disappearing, michelle couldn t really go tohe authorities. it seemed the only people even interested in findinmark weinberger were his creditors. but michelle wouldn t give up. on more than one occasion, michelle flew to europe in hopes of tracking down and confronting her husband. just me and a pair of handcuffs. i brought handcuffs because i figured if he saw me he might, like, be freaked out. i just wanted an explanation. she even came close once, arriving at a paris hotel just a day after weinberger had checked out.
psychological association that july was a prestigious honor for a grad student like michelle. even though mark begged her not to go, she went anyway. and things started to change while i was in hawaii. he called me and said lawyers were claiming that he was doing unnecessary surgery and he was afraid it was going to become a class action suit, at which point he jumps ten steps ahead and assumes that his insurance company would settle, his license would be taken away, and everything would be destroyed. so his life is flashing before his eyes. uh-huh. one of those former patients now had terminal cancer, and she was suing him for not diagnosing it sooner. michelle says that for mark the malpractice suit was more than just a blemish on his reputation. it was a blow to his vanity. and though michelle assured him of her love and support, she said she could feel her husband pulling away.
i felt like i really needed an answer from him. it was a long shot, michelle thought, another pointless appeal broadcast into the ether. he s probably living the high life again somewhere in the mediterranean. this time was different. this time the mark weinberger story found extended shelf life on the internet where more than a year later on december 9, 2009, the right pair of eyes finally found it. so i receive a strange call to my phone, was a friend. he told me, monica, mark is not at he aim to be. what do you mean? trust me. the next day, that friend met with monica and showed her a picture of the man she knew as mark stern. it was a printout taken from the america s most wanted web site. my entire world fall. my knees crack.
it feels so good to know that he s not going to get out anytime in the foreseeable future. i think everybody can rest easier knowing that. and i think my sister would be pleased with the decision. weinberger believes that he s the smartest man in the room, and today he discovered he s not. i think this will end for him in jail, and that s our hope. as a student of philosophy, mark weinberger is no doubt familiar with the ancient greek philosopher who wrote, a man s character is his fate. he was very grandiose, he whereas very entitled. he was haughty at times. for michelle kramer whose life changed in the blink of a greek sunset and many former patients and their families, the imprisonment and public shaming of dr. nose feels like a fate well deserved.