Report: North Shore Celebrity Psychiatrist Settles Sex Complaints

SALEM, MA — The Salem News is reporting that Dr. Keith Ablow, 57, of Newbury, has settled three of the four lawsuits filed against him by former patients who accused him of sexual misconduct. Terms of the settlements, which were filed in Salem District Court Tuesday, were not disclosed. The trial in a fourth lawsuit by a former patient against Ablow is scheduled to begin next month.

The newspaper also reported that Ablow plans to appeal the state's suspension of his medical license. The settlements let Ablow "focus his attention and resources on overturning the Board of Medicine's order of temporary suspension, so that he can restore his medical license and resume helping patients into the future, as he has countless times in the past," Paul Cirel, Ablow's attorney, told the newspaper.

In February, two women filed lawsuits against Ablow alleging he abused his position while treating them for depression. The lawsuits were filed in Essex Superior Court in Salem and contained lurid details, including claims by one of the plaintiffs that Ablow hit her during sex and that another got a tattoo of his initials to show his "ownership" of the woman.

Ablow was a Fox News contributor until 2017, and once drew criticism for his on-air suggestion that then-First Lady Michelle Obama needed "to drop a few pounds." The new lawsuits follow a similar suit filed by a Salem woman against Ablow in July, and earlier suit filed in 2016 which is scheduled to go to trial later this year.

For more on this story, see the Salem News.