Complaints That Doctors In Secret Group Branded Women To Get Review In New York

ALBANY, NY — State officials in New York will review claims that doctors in a secretive group branded and otherwise traumatized women and will also look at why it took so long for authorities to act on the reports, Gov. Andrew Cuomo's spokesman Richard Azzopardi said Friday. The state officials will examine whether an investigation is warranted, Azzopardi said.

The New York Times reported the complaints about a group affiliated with the self-help organization NXIVM, which is based outside Albany and has chapters nationwide. On its website, NXIVM calls the complaints "lies."

In a complaint filed with state health officials over the summer, a woman said Dr. Brandon Porter, of Clifton Park, conducted studies on behalf of NXIVM's personal development program. In one of the studies Porter hooked her up to brainwave monitoring equipment and — without warning — showed her extremely violent videos, including gang rape, she said. The images have haunted her for nearly a year, she said.

Other women complained to the health department that Dr. Danielle Roberts, a family doctor in Clifton Park, used a surgical device to burn brands on women's lower abdomens during their initiations into a secret sorority within NXIVM.

Porter resigned his position as a general practitioner at St. Peter's Hospital in Albany after the Times story was published, a hospital spokesman said.

Roberts didn't respond to a phone message Friday, and Porter's phone number is unlisted. The Times said neither doctor responded to repeated inquiries seeking comment.

The Times story said several former NXIVM members described the painful initiation into a secret sisterhood within the self-help group. One said she was told she would get a small tattoo but instead was held down by three women while a 2-inch-wide symbol including NXIVM founder Keith Raniere's initials was seared into her skin. She said group members were sworn to secrecy.

NXIVM posted a statement on its website saying a media outlet had incorrectly linked it to a "social group." It called the allegations "lies" and "a criminal product of criminal minds."

In an investigative story by the Albany Times Union in 2012, critics described NXIVM as a multilevel marketing business and Raniere as a cult leader who has drawn more than 10,000 followers to his self-improvement philosophy.

The New York Times said Raniere and other NXIVM officials didn't respond to repeated requests for comment.

NXIVM's website says its mission is to "help transform and, ultimately, be an expression of the noble civilization of humans."

By MARY ESCH, Associated Press

Photo credit: Pixabay