Bennett Braun

Chicago Tribune
CONTROVERSIAL PSYCHIATRIST SUSPENDED; RECOVERED MEMORY CASE SPURS STATE MOVE
By Lisa Donovan
October 8, 1999

— Excerpt

State officials have suspended the medical license of Chicago psychiatrist Bennett Braun, considered a leader in the controversial field of recovered memory and multiple personality therapy.

Starting Thursday, Braun is prohibited from practicing for two years. After the suspension, he faces a minimum 5-year probation period that precludes him from treating patients diagnosed with multiple personality disorder or dissociative identity disorder.

The Department of Professional Regulation’s disciplinary action comes a year after the state agency filed a nine-count complaint alleging Braun negligently cared for Patricia Burgus, who sought therapy from him in 1986. He also treated her sons.

Burgus, of Glen Ellyn, claims Braun falsely made her believe she engaged in satanic rituals, cannibalism and baby killings–even that she served as a high priestess of a satanic cult. In 1997, she was awarded $10.6 million to be paid by Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s, which didn’t admit wrongdoing in the civil case…