Movie mogul, Harvey Weinstein has been diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia.
The convicted r@pist, 72, has been receiving treatment behind bars at Rikers Island for a rare type of bone marrow cancer known as chronic myeloid leukemia, NBC News reported.
Weinstein spent most of the summer hospitalized with various maladies, from Covid and double pneumonia to needing fluid on his heart and lungs removed.
Weinstein is currently serving a sentence for rape at Rikers Island prison and was rushed to Bellevue late Sunday due to ‘severe medical conditions’.
His lawyer Arthur Aidala says he warned jail officials: ‘This guy is going to die on your watch if you don’t do something.’
Weinstein has denied that he raped or sexually assaulted anyone.
He remains in custody in New York while awaiting a retrial in Manhattan that’s tentatively scheduled to begin November 12. He is due back in court for a pretrial hearing this Thursday.
Weinstein has been in and out of Bellevue Hospital since returning to Rikers Island from state prison in April after an appeals court overturned his 2020 rape and sexual assault convictions and ordered a new trial.
He underwent pericardiocentesis surgery at Bellevue Hospital in New York City in September after having suffered chest pains.
In July, he was hospitalized with COVID-19 and pneumonia in both lungs, his representatives said.
He had also spent 10 days in Bellevue in April, with Aidala saying that the time that Weinstein has ‘a lot of problems’ and was ‘somewhat of a train wreck health-wise’.
After his February 2020 conviction, Weinstein left court in an ambulance and detoured to Bellevue, complaining of chest pains and high blood pressure. He later had a stent inserted to unblock an artery.
After his sentencing a few weeks later, he returned to the hospital with more chest pains. He later tested positive for COVID-19 just days after being transferred to a state prison near Buffalo.
In 2021, when Weinstein was being extradited to California for prosecution on rape charges there, his lawyers disclosed a litany of afflictions, including: diabetes, coronary artery disease, anemia, hypertension, obstructive sleep apnea, chronic lower back pain, sciatica, chronic leg pain, arthritis, and eye ailments that had severely degraded his vision. At recent court hearings, he has used a wheelchair.
