Ricardo Cruciani, a former Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital neurologist arrested for drugging and sexually abusing patients over 15 years

A physician committed serious medical malpractice and crimes by  hooking up chronically ill female patients with heavy doses of opioids and abusing them sexually. The abuse has been going on for 15 years according to 22 pending lawsuits, hospitals ignored patients complains and failed to inform future employers about these complains.

63 year old Ricardo Cruciani would develop personal relationships with his victims. He would prescribe them significant amounts of opioids and required “in person” appointments to get a refill. When the patient would arrive in his office he would ask for sexual favors in exchange for their prescription. If the patient refused, Cruciani would deny their refill.

This sordid scenario has been going on for at least 15 years in multiple States as during his career, Cruciani worked at Mount Sinai Beth Israel in Union Square, at the Capital Institute for Neurosciences in Hopewell Township, N.J and at Drexel University in Philadelphia.  He lost his medical license after he was found guilty of indecent exposure and groping 7 patients in 2017 in Philadelphia. At that time he did not go to jail but he was registered as a low-level sex offender.

A year later Cruciani pleaded not guilty Manhattan Supreme Court after 6 Mount Sinai patients alleged that they were raped and sexually assaulted by him. At that time, there were already 17 reports of sexual abuse by female patients.

Cruiciani  was arrested last week by the feds and he is now facing a long time in jail. He was charged with five new federal counts of enticing and inducing individuals to travel interstate to engage in illegal sexual activity. Each of these 5 counts based on abuse reported by 5 of his former New York patients carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

If you or someone you know might have been a victim of Ricardo Cruciani, call the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of New York at 646 372 0364.

You also  might have a claim for medical malpractice and can call our experienced NYC  medical malpractice attorneys for a free and confidential discussion at 212 943 1090.

Read more in the New York Times