An obstetrician-gynecologist who worked for years at the University of California, Los Angeles, was convicted on Thursday of sexually abusing patients in a case that has cost the university hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements and has faced similar charges against doctors at other universities.
Jurors in California Superior Court for Los Angeles County found physician James Heaps, 65, guilty of three counts of sexual assault by fraud and two counts of sexual penetration of an unconscious person, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Dr. Heaps faces up to 21 years in prison at his sentencing hearing, scheduled for Nov. 17, according to the office. UCLA has already paid around $700 million to settle sexual misconduct allegations against Dr. Heaps, who was affiliated with the university in various roles from 1983 to 2018.
He was originally charged in 2019 and charged last year with 21 counts of sexual misconduct from 2009 to 2018.
On Thursday, Dr Heaps was acquitted of seven of the counts – three counts of sexual assault by fraud, three counts of sexual penetration of an unconscious person and one count of sexual exploitation of a patient, the report said. district attorney’s office.
Jurors could not reach a unanimous verdict on nine counts – three counts of sexual assault by fraud, four counts of sexual penetration of an unconscious person and two counts of sexual exploitation of a patient, the office said.
In a statement, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón thanked the jurors “for bringing some responsibility to Dr. Heaps.”
“While we respect the decisions of the jurors on acquitted counts, we are obviously disappointed,” he said in a statement. “I know how difficult such trials can be for everyone involved and the personal sacrifices that are made to achieve justice.”
The district attorney’s office said it has not made a decision on whether to retry Dr. Heaps on the charges that resulted in a hung jury. Mr Gascón said: ‘The trauma Dr Heaps has inflicted on the very people he was sworn to care for is immeasurable.’
John Manly, who has represented more than 200 women in civil lawsuits against Dr. Heaps and UCLA, said in a statement that the doctor’s guilt “has been firmly established.”
“The horrific abuses he perpetrated against cancer patients and others who trusted him as a doctor have been exposed and justice has been served,” Mr Manly said in a statement. He added, “This was made possible because our clients and other brave women had the courage to relive their painful abuse in interviews with law enforcement and as witnesses in court.”
Dr. Heaps’ attorney, Leonard Levine, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Thursday.
Mr. Levine had said that the examinations performed by Dr. Heaps were appropriate and had been conducted in the presence of female staff members, according to the Los Angeles Times. He said Dr Heaps had been “portrayed as a freak in the press” as he saved lives.
According to an article by May Report of the 2020 UCLA Special Committee that reviewed accusations of sexual misconduct in clinical settings.
“UCLA Health is grateful to the patients who have come forward,” he said in a statement Thursday. “Sexual misconduct of any kind is reprehensible and intolerable. Our top priority is to provide the highest quality care while ensuring patients feel safe, protected and respected. »
Dr. Heaps had worked part-time at the UCLA Student Health Center from approximately 1983 to 2010, was hired by UCLA Health in 2014, and held medical staff privileges at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center from 1988 to 2018 , according to the university.
In 2018, in response to sexual misconduct allegations against Dr. Heaps, UCLA removed him from clinical practice, informed him that his employment was being terminated (after which he announced he was retiring) and reported it to the Medical Board of California and the law. application, the university said.
In February, the university agreed to pay $243 million to settle claims by 203 women who accused Dr. Heaps of sexual misconduct. This settlement is in addition to a $73 million settlement made public in November 2020 that resolved a class action lawsuit involving more than 5,000 people who had been patients of Dr. Heaps since the 1980s.
Settlements disclosed in May totaled $374 million to resolve lawsuits involving 312 women. And a subsequent settlement resulted in a $26 million payout to settle 33 individual claims, the university said.
The charges against Dr Heaps came as the #MeToo movement helped shed light on allegations of sexual misconduct by other doctors on college campuses.
In 2018, Michigan State University agreed to a $500 million settlement with 332 women and girls who said they were abused by Lawrence G. Nassar, the former USA Gymnastics and Michigan State team doctor, who was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison for sexual abuse. abuse.
The University of Southern California announced in March that it would pay more than $1.1 billion to former patients of Dr. George Tyndall, a campus gynecologist accused of sexually attacking hundreds of patients in what officials of the university called “the end of a painful and ugly chapter”. in the history of our university.
In January, the University of Michigan announced it would pay out $490 million to more than 1,000 people who accused a doctor who worked with football players and other students of sexual abuse. The doctor, Robert E. Anderson, who died in 2008, was accused by dozens of students of assaulting them during physical exams, many of whom were required to participate in athletic programs in Michigan.