A former Mount Sinai doctor who sexually assaulted four emergency-room patients was sentenced Monday to two years in prison as a victim tearfully recounted her horrific encounter with the disgraced physician.
Dr. David Newman, 46, plied the then 29-year-old patient with propofol the same powerful sedative that killed Michael Jackson — and then pleasured himself and ejaculated on her face.
“I remember thinking I was going to die if I didn’t get out of here,” she said, as she recalled the Jan. 12, 2016, attack in a victim impact statement to the court.
She had gone to the hospital for a routine shoulder injury.
After he administered the sedative, the victim lost consciousness but said she awoke during the vile assault.
The woman, who has filed a civil suit against Newman and the hospital, preserved a DNA sample and went to the police.
“I want to get away from the disgust I feel whenever I think about you assaulting me, the feeling of being worthless, the embarrassment,” she seethed, as Newman looked at her from the defense table in Manhattan Supreme Court.
She said that she had always taught her daughter to trust only her and her doctor with her body. “What do I tell her now?” asked the mother from a podium in front of the courtroom.
The victim, who said she could never trust a doctor again, blasted Newman for his lack of remorse. “I believe you’re only sorry because you got caught,” she said.
As part of the plea deal, Newman, a father of two, also admitted to groping three other women during separate visits to the ER in 2015. He pleaded guilty to five counts of sexual abuse.
Newman, wearing a green jacket and faded jeans, apologized for his sick behavior. “What I did was awful and disgusting and I’m sorry,” he said, meekly. “I’m sorry to physicians everywhere and patients everywhere.”
After Justice Michael Obus handed down the promised sentence, a glum-faced Newman was promptly cuffed and led to a holding cell.
Prior to the criminal case, Newman, who lives in Montclair, NJ, frequently lectured on the topic of improving the patient-doctor relationship.
Newman, who faced up to seven years in prison if convicted at trial, was fired from Mount Sinai.
