Prominent North Shore psychiatrist has medical license suspended

THE MEDICAL LICENSE of prominent North Shore psychiatrist Keith Ablow was suspended on Wednesday by the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine based on multiple allegations of inappropriate sexual activity with patients and other misconduct.

“Dr. Ablow poses an immediate and serious threat to the public health, safety and welfare,” the medical board wrote in a press release on Thursday. The board alleges that Ablow “engaged in sexual activity and boundary violations with multiple patients, diverted controlled substances from patients, engaged in disruptive behavior, including displaying and pointing a firearm on multiple occasions in a manner that scared an employee, and procured his license renewal fraudulently.”

In February, the Boston Globe reported on three pending lawsuits by patients against Ablow.

“He began to hit me when we engaged in sexual activities,” the paper reported one patient saying in a sworn affidavit.  “He would have me on my knees and begin to beat me with his hands on my breasts . . . occasionally saying, ‘I own you’ or ‘You are my slave.’”

Ablow is a former contributor for Fox News. He had been doing commercials for a dietary supplement, even though he apparently has no expertise in the area.

A woman answering the phone at Ablow’s Newburyport office said he would have no comment.  She declined to identify herself