A New York City ENT surgeon has been arrested for physical abuse and brutal attacks against his girlfriend.

Fifty-three-year-old Dr. Joseph Finley, an ear, nose and throat surgeon associated with Northwell Health in NYC, was accused by his live-in girlfriend, Negar Dolatabadi, 40, of several abusive attacks that left her with broken bones, a concussion, and a kick in the abdomen that caused a miscarriage, during the last two years.

Dolatabadi, a dentist, filed a lawsuit against the surgeon and he faces several criminal charges, including assault and strangulation, for the alleged incidents that happened between 2020 and 2022.

Court documents say that Finley was drinking several glasses of bourbon daily and would attack her more when he was drinking larger amounts of alcohol. 

At one point, Finley allegedly hurled Dolatabadi, an Iranian immigrant, to the floor and hit her so hard that she suffered permanent serious injuries. 

The surgeon has denied all the allegations.

According to the lawsuit, Finley broke her ribs and toes, gave her a concussion, injured her ear, and tried to strangle her once. In March 2021, she says that Finley’s attack made her suffer a miscarriage when he kicked her.

The couple began their relationship in March 2020 and moved in together a few months later. About two months after that, the woman says Finley attacked her for the first time and repeatedly called her insulting names. He stopped drinking after the first  incident and did not hit her again until July 2020, when he started drinking again supposedly due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

And still she didn’t leave.

During the second attack in July 2020, Finley beat her and threatened to kill her before leaving her on the bathroom floor with a concussion and bleeding. He hit her so badly that for two days, she was sick and vomiting. 

When she told him that she needed to see a doctor, he told her that he was an ENT surgeon and that she did not need to see anyone else.

And still she didn’t leave.

Finley threatened to report her to immigration authorities during one of his attacks and told her he would send her “terrorist ass” back to Iran. He threatened to kill her if she ruined his career. She was terrified of him. 

In October 2020, he slammed a door on Dolatabadi’s foot and broke her toe. In December 2021, he pushed her to the floor, causing another injury to the same toe.

In February 2022, Dolatabadi found out that she was pregnant. About a month later, she says the doctor kicked her in her abdomen even though he knew that she was pregnant. She got the news that she had miscarried a few days later when she went to an obstetrician who told her that the fight had likely caused it.

The same day, Finley punched her in the face and told her she deserved to miscarry.

And still she didn’t leave. 

The final straw for Dolatabadi was in May 2022 when he attacked her for the last time.

According to her lawyer, Dolatabadi’s foot injury prevented her from working for two years. He said that she had been robbed of her career by Finley’s actions despite her efforts at working hard to become a dentist. She says her boyfriend ruined her life and threatened her career as well as her life. 

Dr. Finley was arrested on September 25, 2022, and charged with one count of second-degree strangulation, six counts of third-degree assault and two counts of third-degree criminal mischief, according to a NYC criminal court complaint.

The doctor is out on bail and will return to court on February 8, 2023.