Ex-Mount Sinai ER doctor sexually abused female patients: DA

A former ER physician at Mount Sinai Hospital has been indicted on several counts of sex-related charges based on allegations he targeted four women in his care for sexual abuse, including masturbating on one patient.

David Newman, 45, has been charged with five counts of sexual abuse, both in the first and third degrees, according to Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance. The alleged victims were four women aged 18 to 29 who sought treatment at Mount Sinai in the second half of 2015 and January of this year.

“As alleged in this indictment, four young women who came to the hospital for medical treatment were sexually abused by the very doctor entrusted with their care,” Vance said in a statement. “One was sedated to the point of being physically helpless — a nightmare scenario for any patient to endure.”

Newman has pleaded not guilty to the charges, the New York Post reported, which added that the doctor explained his side of the masturbating accusation in recently released court documents.

“I am embarrassed because I wacked off in the lounge, and it was possible that the ejaculate may have gone from my hands to the woman’s blanket. … Semen may have also transferred from my hand to her face during the time I treated her,” Newman was quoted in court documents reported by the Post.

Assistant District Attorney Eun-Ha Kim alleged that Dr. Newman abused the three other women, aged 18 to 21, by fondling their breasts in the hospital’s pediatric section when they were being treated for a cold, a rash and a headache, the Wall Street Journal has reported.

“We continue to cooperate fully with the authorities and cannot comment further as this is a pending legal matter,” a Mount Sinai spokeswoman told the Wall Street Journal.