The doctor was censured and
fined $5,000.
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) – The state Health Department reprimanded a cancer specialist for talking to the media about his patient George Harrison without the ex-Beatle’s consent.
Harrison, 58, died in Los Angeles on Nov. 29, 2001, after battling lung cancer and a brain tumor.
Dr. Gilbert Lederman signed an order last month with the department’s Board for Professional Medical Conduct, accepting his censure, reprimand and $5,000 fine, documents show. The documents don’t mention Harrison by name but say that the patient died on Nov. 29, 2001, and that Lederman discussed his case in the media.
The radiation oncologist at Staten Island University Hospital treated Harrison shortly before he died. He had told The New York Post that Harrison was “quiet and dignified” and that “he believed death was a part of life. He was not fearful of death.” He also said Harrison stayed on Staten Island for two weeks getting outpatient treatment after checking out of the hospital.
The board said Lederman “revealed to news agencies, magazines and television, personally identifiable facts … obtained in his professional capacity.”
Lederman’s attorney Anthony Scher declined to confirm the state’s action involved Harrison’s case. But he said it was “a very very mild penalty for what the Health Department recognized was a relatively minor mistake.”
“Dr. Lederman mentioned information about a patient which he thought was very positive information, nothing the patient would not want said,” Scher said. “But from a very technical point of view, it was prohibited.”
State Health Department spokeswoman Kristine Smith declined to comment on the case.
Lederman uses a medical technique known as fractionated sterotactic radiosurgery, which attacks large, advanced tumors with high doses of radiation while leaving surrounding tissues intact.
AP-ES-12-02-03 1450EST
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