Bernie Madoff's Final Days Involved Gangrene, Hallucinations

FOIA request reveals what the end was like for disgraced financier
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 10, 2021 2:44 AM CDT
New Report Details Bernie Madoff's Final Days
In this Jan. 5, 2009 file photo, Bernard Madoff, right, leaves U.S. District Court in Manhattan after a bail hearing in New York.   (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)

In the last months of Bernie Madoff's life, the Ponzi schemer developed gangrene and had two toes amputated, suffered from hallucinations, lost eight teeth, and experienced a host of other physical and mental woes. This according to more than 4,000 pages of the disgraced financier's medical records released to MarketWatch by the Bureau of Prisons in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. Madoff already suffered from heart and kidney problems when he entered prison in 2009 at age 71, and the records show he often refused treatment over the years, including declining to seek a recommended kidney transplant. He also skipped appointments and was inconsistent in taking his medications, the records show. He only agreed to start kidney dialysis after his case was declared terminal in 2019.

He was also treated for depression, anxiety, and trouble sleeping. The last 17 months of his life were spent in hospice care, dying of kidney failure. His request for compassionate release was denied. Because of his poor health, he was among the first to be vaccinated against COVID-19. In April, as his cognitive state declined and he became more confused and incoherent, he screamed for help and cursed loudly at a nurse on April 6; he fell out of bed and was found on the floor of his cell April 12. Barely responsive, doctors said he appeared to have reached the "terminal cliff." He was dead of renal failure by April 14. Read the full story at MarketWatch. (More Bernie Madoff stories.)

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