|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|||
|
||||
|
||||
News Story: Doctor Carved His Initials on New MomFrom: David M. Bushman (bushlaw101@aol.com)Fri Jan 21 14:05:30 2000
Doctor Carved His Initials on New Mom By BARBARA ROSS and DAVE GOLDINER Daily News Staff Writers An East Side obstetrician terrified a new mother by carving his initials into her stomach after delivering her baby by Caesarean section, it was revealed yesterday. Dr. Allan Zarkin admits using a scalpel to etch a 3-by-1 1/2-inch letter "A" and then a "Z" into the skin of Liana Gedz as she lay sedated in September, lawyers on both sides of the case said yesterday. "I did such a beautiful job, I'll initial it," Zarkin proclaimed in the delivery room at Beth Israel Medical Center, witnesses told authorities. Law enforcement sources said the Manhattan district attorney's office is investigating Zarkin, who was dubbed Dr. Zorro by Beth Israel staffers after the Sept. 7 incident. The 61-year-old doctor agreed to suspend his medical practice two weeks ago after state health authorities launched a probe, a state Health Department spokeswoman said. Meanwhile, Gedz is suing Zarkin and Beth Israel for $5.5 million. "I feel like a branded animal," said Gedz, 31, of the East Side, who repeatedly broke down in tears during a telephone interview yesterday. "I feel like I was raped, like I was violated." Gedz, a dentist, said she must undergo extensive plastic surgery to remove Zarkin's mark, which has turned into an ugly, inflamed welt. "I can't get undressed without seeing it," said Gedz, who gave birth to a healthy girl. "I'm so embarrassed to get undressed in front of my husband because I have another man's initials on my stomach." Zarkin's attorney, Barry Fallick, said the doctor admits carving his initials on Gedz, but blames it on "frontal lobe disorder" that affects personality and behavior. Fallick said the disorder was diagnosed after the incident. But Robert Sullivan of Mineola, L.I., an attorney for Gedz, rejected that argument, saying it was "concocted for the purpose of litigation." Gedz started seeing Zarkin, who maintained a practice in Murray Hill, after a friend recommended him. Zarkin quickly won her confidence, and Gedz and her husband even invited him to visit at their country home on Long Island last summer. "He became a close friend," she said. When it came time to deliver the baby, Zarkin was a different person, she said. "You're lying there, trusting the person," she recalled. "I don't understand why he did this." Her husband, a prominent oral surgeon, and her mother were in the operating room but didn't immediately tell her what had happened. Gedz first saw the doctor's handiwork when she used a mirror to look at her stomach in a recovery room. "It's horrible," she said. "It's beyond imagination." The incident was one of three complaints filed with the state Health Department against Zarkin, authorities said. Another woman claimed that he provided negligent care, and a third charged he ridiculed her during a delivery — telling her she was "as big as the Lincoln Tunnel," authorities said. After the incident with Gedz, Beth Israel immediately suspended Zarkin's right to practice there and reported him to state health authorities, hospital officials said.
|
|
Return to
|
Mail a New Message to the Forum: ob-gyn-l@obgyn.net Forum Administrator: geffrey.klein@obgyn.net Report Technical Problems: webmaster@obgyn.net Last Updated: Tue Feb 2 04:48:12 2010 |
The American Medical Association is no longer designating CME hours for AMA Category II CME credit. However, physicians themselves may self designate learning activities as Category II CME credit hours if they feel it is of sufficient educational merit and meets the formal definitions of continuing medical education. OBGYN.net believes these interaction in this forum meets these criteria. For further information see the AMA web site.