Doctor who branded women for NXIVM sex cult loses her medical licence
- Danielle Roberts imprinted 17 ‘sex slaves’ with the initials of group leader Keith Raniere, using a cauterising device without anaesthesia
- Health officials say the doctor was evasive and defiant as she faced charges of professional misconduct
New York health officials have revoked the medical licence of a doctor with the cultlike group NXIVM who branded 17 women with the initials of the group’s leader, Keith Raniere.
A health department hearing committee sustained multiple of counts of professional misconduct against Danielle Roberts, who belonged to a secret women’s group within NXIVM called DOS that required a “vow of obedience” between master and slave.
Many of the counts stem from Roberts using a cauterising device to brand “KAR” on the women in their pelvic region without anaesthesia “to intentionally cause them pain”, according to the decision released this week.
The brands were meant to symbolise the women’s status as sex slaves for the now imprisoned self-help guru.
Roberts deviated from the standard of care and “dangerously operated” the branding device on the women, according to the decision first reported by the Times-Union of Albany.
The committee said Roberts was evasive and defiant during her testimony.
Roberts “denies being brainwashed, yet she expressed no real remorse, which represented to the hearing committee her distorted reality and the very real concern that others remain vulnerable to her future brandings”, according to the decision.
Her lawyer Anthony Scher, said on Friday they were likely to appeal the decision.
NXIVM sex cult head Keith Raniere sentenced to 120 years in prison
“The evidence in the case was overwhelming that she was not practising medicine and therefore the normal standards that apply to medical practice don’t apply,” Scher said.
Raniere – known to members of the upstate New York organisation as “Vanguard” and “the smartest man in the world” – was sentenced last year to 120 years in prison for his conviction on racketeering conspiracy and other charges.
NXIVM, whose followers included millionaires and Hollywood actors, was the subject of two television documentary series last year, HBO’s The Vow, and the Starz series Seduced: Inside the NXIVM Cult.
