Mario E. Jascalevich; Murder Trial’s ‘Dr. X’

Dr. Mario E. Jascalevich--the “Dr. X” in a series of New York Times articles that landed a reporter in jail for refusing to surrender his notes--has died in his native Argentina, a relative says.

Jascalevich, who was 57, died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Mar del Plato last September, said his sister-in-law, Mrs. Oscar Jascalevich. She could not provide the date of his death.

Jascalevich was acquitted after one of the longest criminal trials in New Jersey history on charges that he killed three patients who underwent relatively safe surgery. Prosecutors had alleged that he killed the patients by injecting them with the muscle relaxant curare--a South American arrow poison sometimes used in modern surgery--to discredit the surgeons.

Jascalevich’s attorney, Raymond Brown--whose former clients included black author LeRoi Jones and boxer Rubin (Hurricane) Carter--contended that the charges were concocted by a prosecutor and a New York Times reporter, M. A. Farber, to advance their careers. Farber had depicted Jascalevich as “Dr. X” in a series of articles in 1976 about the mysterious deaths of 13 patients at Riverdell Memorial Hospital in Oradell, N.J. in 1965 and 1966.

The newspaper disguised the identity of the doctor, who was chief of surgery, because no charges had been filed at the time of the articles.

During the trial, Farber refused subpoenas to turn over his notes, arguing that he had a constitutional right to protect sources he had promised confidentiality. The court declared Farber in contempt, sent him to jail for 40 days and fined the Times $286,000. The case went to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to hear it. Gov. Brendan T. Byrne pardoned Farber and the newspaper in 1982, and $101,000 in fines was returned.

Ironically, Farber was released from jail on the same day that Jascalevich was found innocent. The jury took just two hours over two days to reach its verdict after having heard testimony for 34 weeks.

Jascalevich’s medical license was suspended in 1976 on malpractice charges unrelated to the trial, and he returned to Argentina and treated patients at a hospital there.