A Brooklyn woman yesterday testified in graphic detail that her cardiologist opened her gown and kissed her breasts in his Upper East Side office.
The woman, 42, who said she’s a lesbian, told the Manhattan Supreme Court jury that Dr. Benjamin Zola, who was examining her for a fainting problem last January, announced, “There’s one more thing I have to do.”
“Then he opened my gown and kissed my breasts,” said the woman, whose name is being withheld by The Post.
“He put his lips on my breasts . . . I was in shock. I just stepped back.”
Afterward, she said, he “put his hands in his unzipped pants and was holding his penis.”
Then “he took my hands to touch him and I pulled back . . . he [then] said, ‘I don’t know why you won’t touch me,’ ” she said.
The woman, seeking evidence for her charge, later arranged to meet with him at the Harvard Club, where he’s a member. She was wearing a wire and the tape was played to the jury.
On the tape the doctor acknowledged they had a sexual encounter but claimed she was the aggressor.
Defense lawyer Gerald Shargel also admitted, in his opening statement, there was a “sexual encounter” but also said it was initiated by the woman.
He claimed, however, his client never kissed the woman’s breasts.
“Make no mistake about it, there was a sexual encounter,” said Shargel.
“Dr. Zola did not stop what he should have stopped. Dr. Zola’s conduct did not include kissing or putting his mouth on her breasts.”
The woman testified she is gay and that she has never had sex with a man.
She also claimed Zola joked about her medical problem.
“Find a safe place on the floor to land,” she quoted the doctor as saying when they were discussing her fainting.
Shargel said Zola’s accuser has filed at least six lawsuits against various people since 1993.
The woman said the alleged incident has left her an emotional wreck.
“My life was turned upside down and this man was still practicing,” she said.