NYC Gastroenterologist charged with sexually assaulting, filming unconscious patients

The footage showed him groping three hospital patients, including a 19-year-old and a “seriously ill” 47-year-old, prosecutors said. All of the women appeared to be unconscious during the abuse, suggesting he used anesthesia to sedate them, according to court documents.

Multiple types of liquid anesthesia were recovered from his home, alongside recreational narcotics such as cocaine and ecstasy, the court documents say.

An attorney for the doctor did not immediately return a request for comment.

In a statement, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said the evidence pointed to “a serial rapist, someone willing to not only violate his sacred professional oath and patients’ trust, but every standard of human decency.”

The arrest follows the sentencing of another doctor in the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital system, Robert Hadden, a gynecologist who allegedly abused 245 women over the span of two decades. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison in June.

The doctor's alleged abuse took place over a much shorter period of time, between 2021 and 2022. But prosecutors said they had additional evidence to suggest that he assaulted other women at different locations in New York City, Las Vegas, San Francisco and Thailand, although he has not been charged in connection with those incidents.

Angela Karafazi, a spokesperson for New York-Presbyterian, said his alleged conduct was “a fundamental betrayal of our mission and our patients’ trust.”

The hospital intends to review its patient safety policies and implement additional training for all employees, she said.