to 24 years behind bars.<\/a><\/p>\nDr. Zhi Alan Cheng pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting raping patients at the hospital and dates at his Queens home.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe recorded himself sexually assaulting the woman who was unconscious on a ventilator and a feeding tube and nearing the end of her life,\u201d said lawyer Nicholas Liakas, whose namesake firm sued the Flushing hospital in 2023 on behalf of four of Cheng\u2019s victims.<\/p>\n
After she died, the family decided not to move forward with a lawsuit out of a desire for privacy, Liakas said.<\/p>\n
But his firm continues to demand accountability from the hospital and for a larger investigation into the scope of the crimes.<\/p>\n
One of the victims was a 19-year-old at the hospital for gallbladder removal, who was allegedly groped by Cheng in June 2021 after he snuck into her pediatric-ward room, according to hospital documents referenced in court records and provided by the firm.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Security footage showed \u201can individual in blue scrubs . . . entering the unit,\u201d according to the records. He told the patient he was a stomach doctor and injected her IV with something, the documents said. Cheng also recorded that attack, the documents showed.<\/p>\n
Cheng was in the room for 19 minutes. The teenager woke up feeling like \u201csomeone was twisting and pulling in her lower abdomen\u201d and \u201cdoesn\u2019t remember what happened to her,\u201d according to the records.<\/p>\n
Now lawyers for some of his victims are calling for a federal investigation into the scope of the crimes. Jefferson Siegel<\/p>\n
\u201cThey did their own lineup in the hospital and they didn\u2019t call the police,\u201d Liakas\u2019 law partner, Cassandra Rohme, alleged. \u201cThey covered it up.\u201d<\/p>\n
The teen and her mother didn\u2019t even learn she was sexually assaulted until they were called to appear at the Queens District Attorney\u2019s Office in April 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The law firm is demanding New York-Presbyterian Queens Hospital notify all of Cheng\u2019s patients that they may be victims.<\/p>\n
The attorneys also want an investigation into where Cheng got the drugs he used to sedate his victims \u2014 accusing him of using \u201ccontaminated syringes diverted from other patients on his victims to render them unconscious,\u201d according to a letter the lawyers sent asking a judge to reject Cheng\u2019s plea agreement.<\/p>\n
In one case, Cheng sexually abused a patient who was on life support and a feeding tube at the Queens hospital, officials said. Jefferson Siegel<\/p>\n
A mother-of-four told The Post she was in the hospital for a routine procedure in 2021 when she awoke to find Cheng assaulting her with his hands.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was coming to and \u2026 he had the curtains drawn and he was vaginally penetrating me,\u201d the 53-year-old told The Post. \u201cI was shocked because I was there for a colonoscopy, which has nothing to do with your vaginal area.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said she tried to tell a nurse but the caregiver turned her back and walked away.<\/p>\n
\u201cI get flashbacks,\u201d said the woman, who asked to remain anonymous. \u201cI don\u2019t know if I\u2019ll ever get a colonoscopy again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cheng was also charged with drugging and sexually assaulting women at his home, according to court papers. James Messerschmidt for NY Post<\/p>\n
Four victims were listed as Jane Does in separate 2023 lawsuits against the doctor, the hospital and its employees in Queens Supreme Court. The cases are ongoing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re asking for somebody else to investigate,\u201d Rohme said. \u201cIt can\u2019t just be us who\u2019s trying to change things so that it\u2019s safer for people in Queens to go to the hospital.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
A hospital spokeswoman called the crimes \u201chorrific\u201d and said \u201cwe are deeply sorry for all that the victims and their families have endured.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe worked closely with law enforcement and with the District Attorney\u2019s office to advance this investigation and see that justice is served,\u201d the statement said. \u201cSignificant enhancements have been put in place to reinforce patient safety, including further strengthening our escalation, investigation, and chaperone policies, together with mandatory training and additional staffing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some of the sexual assaults happened at New York-Presbyterian Queens Hospital. Stephen Yang<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for Queens DA Melinda Katz pointed out that Cheng was sentenced to 24 years in prison and 10 years of post-release supervision.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe aims of an ethical, fair, and effective prosecution are to hold a defendant accountable for his crimes, to provide justice for his victims, and to protect the public,\u201d a statement from the office reads. \u201cThose goals were achieved.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Queens doctor convicted of drugging and sexually assaulting seven women at a NYC hospital and his home…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":209430,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[972,3064,57,9,22196,56,63,65,64,3018,58],"class_list":["post-209429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-doctors","tag-melinda-katz","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-presbyterian-hospital","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-rape","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}