Former Drexel Neurology Chair Who Sexually Abused Patients Dies By Suicide In 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
Photo Credit: *Philadelphia PD*

by Nicole Acosta & Cecilia Levine

08/16/2022 12:34 p.m.

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.

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