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Former NJ Pain Doctor Dies By Suicide In NY Jail: AP

Drexel University's former chairman of the neurology department convicted of sexually assaulting patients died by suicide in a New York City jail, sources tell the Associated Press.

Dr. Ricardo Cruciani

Dr. Ricardo Cruciani

Photo Credit: Philadelphia PD

Dr. Ricardo Cruciani was found unresponsive in a shower area of the Eric M. Taylor Center on Rikers Island Monday, Aug. 18, the AP reports.

The 68-year-old doctor's attorney confirmed that he died but not the manner of death.

Cruciani, who was facing life in prison, allegedly got dozens of female patients hooked on painkillers he prescribed before sexually abusing them over the course of 15 years at area hospitals, the outlet says.

The encounters reportedly happened while he worked at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York, the Capital Neuroscience Institute in Hopewell Township, NJ, and Drexel University in Pennsylvania.

Click here for more from the Associated Press.

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