State board suspends license of Montco physician charged with attempted murder and arson

A state medical board temporarily suspended the medical license of a Narberth-based physician who they said is an immediate danger to public health and safety, Pennsylvania Department of State records show.

Amy Cohen, 35, was arrested last December after she allegedly attempted to set fire to a Lower Merion home. The house belonged to the grandmother of a woman dating Cohen’s ex-boyfriend. Police say Cohen threatened other family members of her ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend.

She faces multiple charges, including attempted murder, arson, stalking, and ethnic intimidation, court records show.

Cohen is a doctor of osteopathic medicine, a type of physician that is licensed to practice medicine. She most recently worked as an infectious disease physician at Bryn Mawr Medical Specialist Association and saw patients Bryn Mawr Hospital, according to an archived staff bio on the practice’s website. Cohen is no longer listed as an employee.

A spokesperson for Main Line Health, which owns Bryn Mawr Hospital, said Cohen was an affiliated physician, but not employed by the system.

The disciplinary process against physicians can take years, but the state boards can issue immediate temporary suspensions of licenses when a person is “an immediate and clear danger to the public health and safety.”

The State Board of Osteopathic Medicine suspended Cohen’s license for 180 days on Jan. 5. She has the right to present her case against the suspension in a hearing. Attorneys from the state department will ask the board revoke her license or suspend it long-term.

The Inquirer made multiple unsuccessful attempts to reach Cohen’s lawyer before publication.

Police say that early in the morning of Nov. 30 someone sprayed lighter fluid on the front of a 99-year-old woman’s Lower Merion home and set it on fire. The woman was inside asleep at the time, and the fire was extinguished with minor damage to the front of the home.

The incident was captured on a Ring security camera. The boyfriend of one of the woman’s granddaughters identified Cohen. He said they had recently broken up and he did not think she was handling it well, according to law enforcement records.

Police say Cohen was also responsible for antisemitic threats the family received in the week before the arson incident.

Days earlier, the 99-year-old grandmother found a threatening letter taped to her house. It had photos of her two adult granddaughters with X’s over their eyes, according to the affidavit of probable cause. The letter threatened that her granddaughters will “both get hurt” if they don’t move out of Pennsylvania.

The sisters’ father received a similar letter in the mail that accused the women of promoting Islamophobia. The letter repeated the threat. “If they do not leave Pennsylvania, they will BOTH get HURT. Don’t test US!”

One of the sisters had recently shared pro-Israel posts on social media, the sister told police.

» READ MORE: Doctor charged with attempted murder and arson after allegedly setting fire at Montgomery County home

Local police officers and FBI found lighter fluid, a note with the elderly woman’s home address, and more letters about the sisters when they searched Cohen, her house, and car with a search warrant.

Cohen was arrested Dec. 1 and is being held in the Montgomery County Prison since, court records show. Her bail is currently set at $99,000.