Harvey Weinstein was hospitalized Monday after receiving a “surprising blood test,” his lawyer said. That’s because it’s been less than a week since the disgraced movie mogul filed a legal lawsuit alleging he received substandard medical care at New York City’s infamous prison.
“Weinstein, 72, was taken to Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan to receive emergency treatment due to alarming blood test results that required immediate medical attention,” Imran Ansari, an attorney for Weinstein, 72, said in a statement.
“They are expected to remain there until the condition stabilizes,” he added. “His deprivation of care was not only medical malpractice but a violation of his constitutional rights.”
A New York City Department of Corrections spokeswoman did not immediately respond to an email. The agency’s inmate database confirmed that Weinstein was transferred from Rikers Island to Bellevue Hospital Prison in Manhattan.
Weinstein has been in city custody since early this year after a New York appeals court overturned his 2020 sexual assault conviction in New York. This case is scheduled for retrial in 2025. Weinstein denied any wrongdoing.
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In a lawsuit filed last week, Weinstein’s lawyers accused the city of providing substandard medical care for a number of conditions, including chronic myeloid leukemia and diabetes.
“The last time I visited him, I noticed blood stains on his jumpsuit (possibly from intravenous drips). The clothes had not been washed in weeks and no clean underwear had been provided. Conditions were almost unsanitary for someone suffering from a serious illness,” Ansari said in a statement likening Rikers Island to a “gulag.”
The troubled prison complex, located on an East River island in New York City, has come under increasing scrutiny for mistreatment of inmates and dangerous conditions. Last week, a federal judge found that the city had placed incarcerated residents at “unconstitutional risk,” clearing the way for the federal government to take over the prison system.
Weinstein’s publicist, Judah Engelmayer, refuted the claims in a statement Monday.
“Mr. Weinstein, who suffers from leukemia and other medical conditions, has been deprived of the treatment that anyone in his condition deserves, whether incarcerated or not,” he said. “In many ways, these abuses are cruel and unusual punishment. .”
© 2024 The Canadian Press
