Notoriety
The Bierenbaum case was the subject of the 2001 ''New York Times'' non-fiction bestseller book ''The Surgeon's Wife''. It was the basis of the plot of the episode "The Good Doctor" in the first season of ''Law and Order: Criminal Intent'' and also one of the stories in the television show ''Dominick Dunne: Power, Privilege, & Justice'' on Court TV. In the ISBN database, the summary of the book includes: Bierenbaum has been referred to as "The Lady Killer". It has been said in ''Vanity Fair (magazine), Vanity Fair'' and ''New York (magazine), New York'' magazine that women still find him attractive, even though he has been convicted of murdering his first wife.Legal precedent
''People of the State of New York v. Robert Bierenbaum'' was a landmark decision, setting precedent on upholding physician-patient privilege even when a Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California, Tarasoff warning is invoked: "Neither a psychiatrist issuing a Tarasoff warning nor a patient telling his friends he's in treatment constitutes a waiver of a patient's psychiatrist-patient privilege." The case was also used as precedent in the California case of Glyn Scharf, where Scharf was charged with murdering his wife, even though Murder conviction without a body, the victim's body was never found.Confession
At a parole hearing in December 2020, Bierenbaum confessed to strangling his wife and tossing her body out of an airplane while flying over the Atlantic Ocean. The hearing denied his parole. His next parole hearing was scheduled for November 2021.Medical practice status
As a result of the New York (state), New York state Medical Licensing Board's misconduct review following the court case, Bierenbaum surrendered his License to Practice medicine in November, 2000. In September 2002, New Jersey also revoked his medical practice license.In popular culture
The Robert Bierenbaum case was featured by the television show ''Law and Order: Criminal Intent'', in an episode entitled "The Good Doctor", which originally aired in November, 2001; in an episode of the French series ''Paris enquêtes criminelles;'' and in an episode of 20/20 (American TV program), 20/20 in October 2021. Lisa DePaulo profiled the Bierenbaum case in her story, "Intimations of Murder" published in the September 2000 issue of ''Vanity Fair (magazine), Vanity Fair'' magazine. The case was featured in an episode of OWN series ''Devil You Know''.References
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