A Harlem doctor was charged Thursday with sexually abusing one of his patients during a breast cancer screening last year, and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office is investigating whether more patients were victimized.
Dr. Mark Jackson, 59, allegedly assaulted the woman during a screening at the Starting Point Clinic on West 124th Street in September 2017, according to the district attorney’s office. He is charged with two counts of sexual abuse and one count of forcible touching.
“Patients place a unique trust in their medical practitioners to conduct themselves with the utmost professionalism and care,” District Attorney Cyrus Vance said. “As alleged here, Mark Jackson betrayed that trust when he sexually abused a patient seeking a simple breast cancer screening.”
Starting Point Clinic is an addiction treatment facility that also offers primary health care services, the district attorney’s office said. Given that Jackson worked at the clinic for three years and attended to numerous patients who also struggled with substance abuse, Vance said his office has reason to believe there may be more victims.
Any additional patients who believe they were victimized by Jackson are urged to contact the sex crimes unit at 212-335-9373.
A spokeswoman for Start Treatment and Recovery Centers, which operates the Harlem clinic, called the charges “disturbing,” adding that the company reported the allegations to the New York State Justice Center as soon as it received the complaint about Jackson in October 2017.
Jackson was placed on administrative leave without pay the day after the patient made the complaint, the spokeswoman said, and he was fired after he refused to give up his corporate identification badge and tried to enter one of the company’s clinics.
“We have policies in place that prohibit sexual harassment in any form,” the spokeswoman said. “We join the Manhattan DA’s office in encouraging any other additional survivors to come forward and will continue to cooperate in any way to support any other victims in coming forward.”
