An Italian court has approved a U.S. extradition request for a fugitive doctor from Merrillville, Ind. accused of fraud and malpractice.
Deputy chief prosecutor Gianfranco Burino says Mark Weinberger, who was found Dec. 15 in a tent near Mont Blanc on Italy's northern border with France, didn't fight extradition at a hearing Tuesday.
Justice Minister Angelino Alfano now has 40 days to decide whether to return Weinberger to the United States.
Weinberger, known as "the Nose Guy" doctor, had been on the lam for five years and featured on America's Most Wanted. When authorities found him, he had stabbed himself in the neck.
The 46-year-old doctor, of Merrillville, Ind., disappeared after a Hammond grand jury indicted him on 22 counts of fraud for allegedly concocting a scheme to overbill insurance companies for procedures that were either not needed or sometimes never performed.
In at least one case, the scheme allegedly resulted in death.
