Doctor 'forced Harrison to sign autograph'

A doctor forced a weakened George Harrison to autograph a guitar for his teenage son two weeks before the ex-Beatle died of cancer, according to a lawsuit filed in New York.

The suit, filed by Harrison’s estate, alleges that the musician tried to resist the request by saying, “I do not even know if I know how to spell my name any more.”

The suit claims Dr Gilbert Lederman responded by saying, “Come on, you can do this,” and held Harrison’s hand as he wrote his name on the guitar “with great effort and much obvious discomfort”.

The estate seeks possession of the guitar and two cards it says Harrison signed as he was treated by Dr Lederman, a Staten Island-based expert in treating large tumours with high doses of radiation.

Harrison died in November 2001 after battling lung cancer and a brain tumour.

“This lawsuit is strictly allegations. Frankly, I think it’s absurd,” Dr Lederman’s lawyer, Wayne Roth, said. “He didn’t coerce Mr Harrison.”

Harrison’s wife and son believe a National Enquirer story about Harrison’s death which featured Dr Lederman’s son holding the instrument was orchestrated by the doctor to raise the guitar’s value, a lawyer for the Harrison estate said.

“George was literally lying there dying and the doctor forced George to sign a guitar,” Paul LiCalsi, a solicitor for Harrison’s estate, said. “The doctor should not be permitted to profit from this behaviour.”

Roth said Dr Lederman’s son still plays the guitar and the family has no intention of selling it. The instrument, appraised in connection with a state investigation of Dr Lederman’s treatment of Harrison, is worth less than $10,000 (€7,800), Roth said.

The estate also accuses Dr Lederman of violating Harrison’s privacy by orchestrating invasive media coverage in the interest of promoting his medical practice.

Dr Lederman conducted interviews about Harrison with several news outlets, many within hours of the ex-Beatle’s death, the suit claims.

The state Health Department reprimanded Dr Lederman for talking to the press about Harrison without his consent. Dr Lederman accepted his censure, reprimand and a $5,000 (€3,900) fine, documents show.