In the 1980s, psychiatrist Bennett Braun was at the center of the hysteria over Satanic cults and recovered memory. Through his practice at the Rush North Shore Medical Center, Braun convinced otherwise rational women and men that they were part of Satanic cults that were killing babies and committing other crimes. Braun told the individuals that they had repressed their memories of these events, and he used a number of dubious techniques to convince his patients that they had participated in these activities.
In February, Braun was once again at the center of the Satanic hysteria but in a different role — as a defendant seeking to settle a multimillion lawsuit brought by former patient Elizabeth Gale, 52.
Braun, and co-defendant psychologist Roberta Sachs’, actions were particularly pernicious with Gale. After checking into Rush for mild depression, Braun convinced her that she was part of a Satanic cult and had given birth to children who were used as human sacrifices in the cult. Braun and Sachs convinced Gale to voluntarily sterilize herself to prevent the cult from using her to produce future such sacrifices.
Gale’s attorney, Todd Smith, told the court that,
[Braun and Sachs] convinced Ms. Gale she had dozens of different personalities which had been created as a result of the horrific trauma they told her she suffered as a child. . . . [they] convinced Ms. Gale she was a member of a worldwide secret . . . satanic cult . . . that Ms. Gale was a ‘breeder’ for the cult and that she had sacrificed her previous children, when she in fact had never had children.
Braun and Sachs had previously settled with former patient Patricia Burgus for $10.6 million. Braun and Sachs convinced Burgus that she was some sort of high priestess in the worldwide Satanic cult.
If there were any justice, Braun and Sachs would be sitting in jail for their fraudulent and repulsive actions, but the only attempt to hold them criminally responsible failed to garner a conviction.
Source:
Not in cult: Woman gets $7.5 million. Abdon M. Pallasch, Chicago Sun-Times, February 12, 2004.