Multiple Women Accuse Dr. Keith Ablow of Sexual Assault

The Boston Globe reports that multiple women have accused psychiatrist Keith Ablow of sexual misconduct, including claims by one former patient that he forced her to perform oral sex during therapy sessions and beat her with his belt, and an allegation from another patient that he forced her to get his initials tattooed to demonstrate his “ownership” of her.

Ablow, who has authored multiple books, once hosted a nationally syndicated talk show, and until 2017 appeared on Fox News as a contributor, faces three malpractice lawsuits alleging sexual misconduct. One was filed last year by a woman from Minnesota, and the other two, from women in New York and Ohio, were filed on Thursday.

The Globe reports:

“He began to hit me when we engaged in sexual activities,” wrote one plaintiff, a New York woman, in a sworn affidavit filed with her lawsuit. “He would have me on my knees and begin to beat me with his hands on my breasts,” she wrote, “occasionally saying, ‘I own you,’ or ‘You are my slave.’”

The malpractice lawsuits, two of them filed on Thursday in Essex Superior Court and a third filed last year, paint a picture of a therapist who encouraged women to trust and rely on him, then coaxed them into humiliating sexual activities, often during treatment sessions for which they were charged. When the New York woman had trouble paying her therapy bills, she said, Ablow advised her to work as an escort or stripper because the work was lucrative.

The women, who sought therapy for depression, described a pattern of abuse in which Ablow took advantage of his position as a medical professional and therapist, eventually convincing the women to move from other states in order to seek treatment in person at this office in Massachusetts. There, he administered Ketamine, a sedative used by some clinicians on patients who are resistant to other drugs or forms of therapy.

But expert testimony by Jeffrey Lieberman, chairman of the psychiatry department at Columbia University’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons suggests that Ablow may have used the drug to control a patient from Ohio, who was allegedly offered Ketamine at a discounted rate and promised job interviews by Ablow. Ablow asked the woman to perform oral sex on her during their sessions. “Sometimes he would use his hands and other times he would take off the belt he was wearing and use that to strike me,” the woman said.

Three other women who used to work for Albow signed affidavits, included in the lawsuits, similarly accusing him of sexual harassment or assault. One former employee, Janna McCarthy, wrote that Ablow asked her to schedule appointments with “sad, lonely” attractive women during periods when the office was otherwise empty. “I was concerned that he was engaging in sexual contact with some of these women,” she wrote.

Ablow’s attorney, A. Bernard Guekguezian, told the Globe that he has not yet reviewed the two new lawsuits, but Ablow denied allegations raised in last year’s lawsuit, saying, “The plaintiff in this case was the subject of a no-trespassing order by me two years ago, was ordered formally to stop harassing me, and her account is in collections for non-payment.”