Harvey Weinstein has been hospitalized – less than two months after being hit with a cancer diagnosis.
The development was first reported by TMZ, who spoke with the disgraced producer’s attorney.
The lawyer confirmed the recent visit is related to his high-profile client’s recent leukemia diagnosis, delivered back in October.
In the weeks since, the 72-year-old has been receiving treatment on Rikers Island, where he is being held ahead of yet another sex crimes trial.
That’s still slated for 2025 – leading a representative of the convicted rapist to, last month, air his client’s intent to sue the city, for refusing his requests to be released so that he may undergo outside treatment.
Weinstein’s team, at the time, further claimed the arrangement constituted ‘ongoing medical negligence’.
News of the suit emerged the same day Weinstein visited Manhattan’s Bellevue Hospital on November 8, for unspecified reasons.
The visit came on the heels of several others from the former movie mogul, who has been plagued by health issues even before the recent bone marrow cancer diagnosis. On Monday, Weinstein’s lawyer Imran Ansari spoke about the recent visit in-depth.
Harvey Weinstein has been hospitalized less than two months after being hit with a cancer diagnosis, his attorney has reportedly confirmed
He said the movie mogul convicted of sex crimes back in 2018 was at city-owned hospital Bellevue, adding that the visit is related to his high-profile client’s recent leukemia diagnosis
‘[Weinstein] been suffering from a lack of adequate medical care and enduring deplorable and inhumane conditions on Rikers Island,’ he said, repeating claims aired in the November lawsuit that names both the hospital and the government agency that runs it as defendants.
Ansari went on to cite ‘an alarming blood test result’ that was a cause for concern – enough so that his client was rushed from Rikers back to Bellevue.
Not offering more detail, the jurist went on to concede that the convict’s condition is treatable, but had been serious enough for officials to forgo his current treatment plan in prison.
He also said that Weinstein will remain at Bellevue until his condition stabilizes – a timeline that remains shrouded for now.
‘His deprivation of care is not only medical malpractice, but a violation of his constitutional rights,’ the attorney added, referencing the suit he filed against the city just last week.
Weinstein’s spokesperson, Juda Engelmayer, similarly added: ‘This mistreatment constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.’
The claim with the Office of the NYC Comptroller contains similar sentiments, painting both Bellevue and NYC Health + Hospitals as negligent.
In an explanation as to why the complaint was filed, representative reiterated it was due to Weinstein having ‘the right to proper care while in custody.’
In the weeks since, the 72-year-old has been receiving treatment on Rikers Island, where he is being held ahead of yet another sex crimes trial
Weinstein had already been in the midst of suing New York City following his cancer diagnosis last month, for refusing his requests to be released so that he may undergo outside treatment
Perhaps most sensationally, though, was that the sexual predator’s team insistence that the lawsuit was designed to put a stop to a supposed conspiracy rep appeared to suggest was the work of the city itself.
‘This treatment suggests a broader agenda for a more sinister outcome through lawfare and inadequate healthcare,’ it read.
Meanwhile, the former producer who was already found guilty in 2018 is soon set to sit in court once more, after new criminal charges were brought against him this past September.
That same month, Weinstein had to have fluid from his heart and lungs removed in what his lawyer called an emergency surgery, also at Bellevue, after he started suffering from chest pains.
At the time, his prison consultant said the surgery was successful, but that he remains in ‘pain from the procedure.’
The rep also pointed to the convicted rapist’s previous health problems, which have included bouts with COVID-19 and double pneumonia.
Before that, he spent 10 days in Bellevue in April, after attending his trials in a wheelchair.
A rep, upon filing the complaint last week, also pointed to the convicted rapist’s previous health problems, which have included bouts with COVID-19 and double pneumonia. He is now suffering from a rare form of bone cancer, as he is set to stand trial on new charges sometime next year
Following another conviction in February 2020, Weinstein left court in an ambulance bound to Bellevue, after complaining of chest pains and high blood pressure. He had a stent inserted to unblock an artery.
As the city fields the lawsuit, Weinstein continues to deny that he raped or sexually assaulted anyone, and he remains in custody in New York.
Prosecutors retrying his overturned rape conviction have since disclosed that they have begun presenting new evidence – of up to three additional allegations going as far back as the mid-2000s.