Brendan Lyons, the Editor of the Time Union’s State Bureau and its Investigations Editor, has unearthed the fact that Dr. Danielle D. Roberts, the women who branded a reported 150 women with the initials of NXIVM cult leader Keith A. Raniere, is under investigation for “allegations of professional medical misconduct”.
As recently reported on the Frank Report, Dr. Roberts is apparently now serving on the medical staff at the Plainview Hospital in Plainview, NY. Her office address there is listed as 888 Old Country Road, Plainview, NY 11803 – and her listed telephone number is (516) 719-2546.
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Because the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) chooses to shield such investigations from public scrutiny, many had assumed that Dr. Roberts had been given a “pass” in terms of the complaint that had been lodged against her by several of her many branding victims, including Sarah Edmondson.
But according to new information that Brendan was able to obtain, it appears that the NYSDOH is still actively investigating Dr. Roberts.
The NYSDOH originally subpoenaed eight “Jane Doe” victims of Dr. Roberts’s now infamous cauterizing pen back in January 2018.
A 10-month battle ensued as all eight women tried to have the subpoenas quashed.
But in September 2018, Acting State Supreme Court Justice Kimberly A. O’Connor issued an order that allowed the NYSDOH investigation to move forward.
“The complaint alleged that the subject physician participated in an initiation ceremony for a secret society, which involved the branding of female initiates with a cautery pen without anesthesia and under duress”, the court order stated.
The pending NYSDOH charges against Dr. Roberts include the following:
• That she practiced medicine with negligence on more than one occasion;
• That she practiced medicine on one occasion with gross negligence;
• That she is morally unfit to practice medicine; and
• That she failed to use scientifically accepted precautions and infection-control practices during the branding procedures.
The NYSDOH had originally dismissed Edmondson’s complaint on the basis that the brandings “did not occur with the doctor-patient relationship and should be reported to law enforcement ….”.
Although the NYSDOH would not confirm the status of its investigation concerning Dr. Roberts, it seems likely that the spotlight created by the ongoing prosecution of NXIVM-related parties in the Eastern District of New York (EDNY) will likely force the agency to see the investigation to its conclusion.
Roberts had worked at St. Peter’s Hospital in Albany, NY from 2012 – 2015. She also had a private practice at 7 Grant Hill Road in Clifton Park, NY during that same time period.
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In 2017, the NYSDOH also opened an investigation into Dr. Brandon B. Porter, a physician who conducted unauthorized “fright experiments” for NXIVM and its affiliated Ethical Science Foundation.
The status of that investigation is still pending.
Porter had also worked at St. Peters but abruptly resigned from there in 2017 after his role in the “fright experiments” became public.
Although he and his family used to live in a house in Upstate New York, his current location is unknown.
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Michael S. Kelton, a New York City attorney who specializes in medical malpractice, is representing both Dr. Roberts and Dr. Porter.
As reported by Brendan Lyons, Kelton indicated that he had “no comment with respect to either physician” when asked about them earlier today.
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The revelation of the ongoing NYSDOH investigations – and the recent guilty pleas in the EDNY prosecution – focuses new attention on the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York (NDNY).
Despite receiving numerous complaints and a significant amount of documentation and evidence, the NDNY turned a blind-eye to the NXIVMN criminal enterprise for almost two decades.
Recently, however, the EDNY withdrew four pending charges against Keith Raniere— and one against Clare Bronfman – and referred them to the NDNY for prosecution because of jurisdictional issues.
Whether the NDNY will actually prosecute those alleged crimes – and whether it will ever undertake a comprehensive investigation into the numerous other crimes that Raniere and his cohorts committed in their jurisdiction – remains to be seen.
