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Patient Sues Mt. Sinai ER Doctor For Allegedly Drugging Then Ejaculating On Her
By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 23, 2016
Modified Feb 23, 2016
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By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 23, 2016
Modified Feb 23, 2016
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The prominent emergency room physician who is accused of drugging and sexually assaulting a patient is due in criminal court today—a day after his victim filed a lawsuit against him and Mount Sinai Hospital.
The 22-year-old woman alleged that during a visit to Mt. Sinai on January 11, a nurse treated her for shoulder pain with various medications, including morphine. The patient then took off her shirt and bra and put on a gown for an X-ray. According to the Daily News' sources, "Newman walked into her room following the X-ray.... 'I’m going to give you a shot of morphine,' the doctor told her... The patient says she told the doctor that a nurse had already administered the drug, but she then felt a burning sensation in her arm that convinced her that Newman gave her more morphine anyway."
The visit turned creepy when the patient, while the doctor was examining her back, told him she felt pain on the right side of her chest. Newman started fondling her breasts, she alleged, according to sources.
The doctor then moved her bed away from the wall and positioned himself with his back toward the patient. The woman heard the sounds of someone masturbating — and then felt semen on her face, she claimed. All the while, she was unable to move because she was heavily medicated, sources said.
Newman allegedly wiped some of the semen off her face, but when the patient woke up, she apparently found more on her face and chest and wiped it off with her gown. She saved the blanket and gown as evidence.
According to a copy of the lawsuit obtained by the NY Times, the swabs from the patient's face "tested positive for semen. Her lawyer, Katherine E. Smith, said on Monday that the district attorney’s office told Ms. Newman, who is not related to the doctor, that the DNA matched Dr. Newman’s."
Newman was arrested on January 19 and charged with sexual abuse and forcible touching.
The patient is seeking unspecified damages.
Update: According to the lawsuit, when the patient woke up from the additional dose of drugs, nurses appeared "alarmed" by her condition, but nurses told her that she was only given the dose before the X-ray. Later, after telling physician assistant Andrew Lapsley that she was assaulted and drugged, Lapsley allegedly said, "Do you want me to call the police or something?" before recommending that she "think about it" and go home and "sleep on it," suggesting "you could always come back tomorrow."
The patient also allegedly saw Newman pacing outside her room, appearing distraught.
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david newman
dr. david newman
mount sinai hospital
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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