Doc who left initials on patient quits

Assistant District Attorney Martha Bashford told the judge the carving victim, dentist Liana Gedz, quot;was steadfast in her opinion that jail would not be appropriate as long as he did not practice medicine and was not a danger to the community.quot;

Zarkin etched a three-inch quot;A.Z.quot; into Gedz8217;s skin as she lay sedated on the delivery table at New York Beth Israel Medical Centre last September after undergoing a Caesarean section.

quot;After the procedure was over, I used my scalpel and scratched my initials in her abdomen,quot; Zarkin told Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Renee White. His license to practice medicine was revoked by the State Health Department on February 3 and the hospital was fined 14,000 for ignoring repeated warning signs about Zarkin8217;s bizarre behaviour.

Judge White set May 30 for formal sentencing but said she would go along with the prosecutor8217;s recommendation. She said Zarkin suffered from quot;a frontal lobe disorderquot; called Pick8217;s disease, an Alzheimer8217;s-like condition that causes personality and behaviour changes and dementia.

Gedz is suing Zarkin and the hospital in civil court for 5.5 million and has said that what he did to her makes her feel quot;like a branded animal.quot;