Violated Care – patients of a disgraced doctor speak out |9
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Hey, it's Nancy. Before we begin today, I just wanted to let you know that you can listen to Crime Beat early and ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime. A listener's note. The following episode contains coarse language, adult themes, and content of a violent and disturbing nature and may not be suitable for everyone. Listener discretion is advised.

Take a minute to think about those closest to you. What qualities do they have in common and what do you look for in those people? For me, some of the most important traits are honesty and integrity. I want to know that I can trust those closest to me. I'm sure you know it never feels good when someone betrays you. Now, think about the professionals in your life. Teachers, coaches, doctors...

I think you would agree the bar is set even higher for them because they're in positions of power and influence. You completely trust that it's in their capable, professional, medical hands to take care of you. Who's going to believe me? It was like a little bit scary to be told that, you know, it's my word against this really rich, important person.

I'm Nancy Hixt, a crime reporter for Global News. Today on Crime Beat, a case of betrayal, a breach of trust by a person of authority, a physician. This is a story of violated care. I've known Rachel for as long as I can remember. That's not her real name, but you'll soon understand why I'm protecting her identity.

Rachel and I both suffer from debilitating migraines. I've had them for most of my life. She got them as an adult. I feel like it was after I had my kids where they got to be so unbearable that I couldn't really function when I had them anymore. I'd have to sit in a dark room and it would take me out of commission for probably forever.

12 to 24 hours. If you've never experienced them, they're not like normal headaches. Advil or Tylenol don't help. It's just an all-consuming pain. It's just like you can't think of anything else. Your head is just pounding and you feel it throbbing.

and any light just hurts, so you just close your eyes. Sometimes I've had it where it'll make me feel like I have to throw up and feel sick. My headaches were just becoming like they just affected my daily life. I started having to miss work because I just couldn't function.

Rachel and I often message back and forth to discuss ideas for treatment, commiserating over our experiences. We've both tried pretty much everything to find some relief, from natural remedies like peppermint oil to painkillers. At times they work, but the migraines haven't stopped. We've both seen family doctors who have sent us to specialists. But Rachel's experience with her neurologist was shocking.

Not only did she suffer from incapacitating pain, but for many years, she suffered in silence after an incident with someone who was entrusted with her treatment. One of my really good friends from high school has her daughter in gymnastics.

And she had posted something on Facebook about this gymnast doctor and how she hopes he rots in hell or something like that, she said. And I was like, what? I just commented on it. I said, what do you mean? Who's this doctor? And she goes, oh, you haven't heard about the Larry Nassar case? And I said, no. And then she sent me an article. She Facebooked me an article. And

And literally as I was reading the article, I stopped and I said to myself, "Why didn't these girls come forward? If they would have come forward, less people would have been abused by him." And as those thoughts were just leaking out of my sad little brain, it just hit me like a ton of bricks that, you know, you have been in a similar situation and you were 30 years old and you didn't say anything.

"Don't judge these girls because you should have known better." And then I was just standing there shocked that that memory came back to me and I wasn't really sure what to do with it. I felt ashamed for feeling judgmental of those girls. Well, actually what I did next is I sent you an email and I told you what happened.

And I just asked for your advice as to who I should talk to. And you said that if it happened to me, it probably happened to other people and that I should talk to the police.

At that point, Rachel needed to dig up some dates and background on the neurologist she went to. It had been a decade since that traumatic appointment, and she all but blocked it from her mind. I got his name, and I sat down at my computer, and I Googled him. And the first thing, I think it was the first thing that came up, was a rate MD site that

where I guess you can go rate a doctor. And his name was there and I just clicked on it and he had like zero stars or something like super poor rating. I just had chills go down my spine because I was like, oh my goodness, there are other people. He isn't normal. You know, I was right. And that's when I reconnected with you and you helped me find someone to go and speak with.

I went through those posts on RateMD as well. One reviewer said she saw this doctor in 1987 and wrote,

Another review from November 2011 read, "He made me take my top off, including my bra, for a neurological exam. I have seen many neurologists and I now know that this is not necessary. I searched for any information I could find about this doctor, including a photo. But it seemed there were no pictures, which was strange considering his esteemed role in the medical community."

A co-worker, who is really good at digging up information online, found a tiny photo hidden deep inside a PDF posted many years earlier. And you sent it to me and instantaneously I was like, yep, that's him. And you were like, are you 100% sure? I said, I'm 150% sure. And I totally recognized him.

I told Rachel she needed to go to police. Yeah, so I've never been to the police before for really anything. And I had to go into like a back room and they record you. And so they ask you certain questions and, you know, it's a little bit difficult.

because you're sitting in there with this strange man, you know, telling him a story about another strange man. And so it's a little bit uncomfortable that way. But, you know, he was kind and the officer was kind and, you know, was patient and asked me the questions. And then he said at the end of the interview, you know, we'll shut it off and we'll go into another room and just finish up with the details.

He did say that there wasn't any other charges brought up against this particular doctor and that he was one of Calgary's elite wealthy people and that all his friends are doctors and all his friends are lawyers and they're going to back him up.

I just, it was like a little bit scary to be told that, you know, it's my word against this really rich, important person. And I just said, well, I'm just here to tell my story. And I had hoped that maybe someone else had come forward or someone else will come forward. And that's when they assured me that nobody had come forward.

In the interview, I feel like he took me seriously and he agreed that that didn't seem right and didn't seem normal. But it was in the second area when we weren't being recorded that he just kind of said that he has all these big wigs behind him. He didn't really finish. It just kind of alluded to the fact that it's your word against his.

And he has a lot of money behind his word and you don't. So. She left feeling defeated. It took her a lot of courage to go to police in the first place. I was super scared that, you know, I'd get sued. I need to take a minute to address this issue. As I've previously mentioned on Crime Beat, training for police officers has changed over the years.

When Rachel told me her experience with that officer, I was blown away. I've been a crime reporter for nearly 25 years, and I've never heard of a police officer telling a victim of sexual assault she should let it go or she could face legal action of her own. I should note, I've heard from several women who felt this detective made inappropriate comments.

Both back when it happened and in writing this episode, I asked the Calgary Police Service how these allegations against this officer were handled. Calgary Police told me they're unable to say if the officer in this case has been disciplined. However, in late 2020, he was reassigned and no longer works in the sex crimes unit.

After Rachel's interaction with that officer, she didn't know what to do. Again, she called me. I reached out to police to let them know I was considering doing a story. They asked me to hold off, that it could jeopardize the investigation. I agreed to wait for at least a little while. I don't ever want to be the reason someone doesn't find justice. A few weeks later, Rachel heard back from police.

By now, I'm sure you're wondering exactly what happened in that appointment with the neurologist.

I believe the nurse led me in and she said, you need to take off your bra and your shirt and the doctor will be right in. And I remember saying to her, I'm here to get my head examined. Why do I need to take off my clothes? And then she just said, it's just standard procedure. And that's when I realized that's when I started taking

like I started breathing sort of panicky and I started telling myself, you know, you're overreacting, you're overreacting like you always do. He's a doctor, he's here. And I remember thinking all through in my head, I remember thinking, I have migraines, he's going to want to check my neck and my shoulder muscles to see if it's a tension thing. He's going to want to rule out all these things. And that's probably why he's asked you to do this.

I reached out to CARNA, the College and Association of Nurses of Alberta, to see if there were any complaints filed against the nurses in this case. They couldn't confirm if there were. Under the Health Profession Act, the status of complaints are kept confidential. Unless referred to a hearing tribunal, then those proceedings become public.

I should add, under CARNA's Protection of Patients of Sexual Abuse and Sexual Misconduct Standards, if a nurse has reasonable grounds to believe that the conduct of any regulated profession constitutes sexual abuse or sexual misconduct, they must report that member to the appropriate regulatory college.

Whether or not that happened in this case, there's no way to know unless a nurse comes forward and shares their story. And I remember just talking to myself, this is not, you know, this is normal. This is, you know, this lady wouldn't bring you in here if it was, if she, you know, if it wasn't normal. She wouldn't, she wouldn't leave you here and tell you to take your clothes off. And so you're just constantly telling yourself and self-talking yourself that

into doing what was asked and I did have a gown and I remember her saying to keep it open to the front and again I started kind of panicking thinking that's really weird I don't I don't ever recall you know I had my two babies and I never I never had it open to the front it was always open to the back and that was just a really weird comment to me

And then she left and I kind of hoped that she'd come back in with the doctor, but she never did. And in shuffled this little white haired man

And he never looked at me in the eye. He didn't really say anything to me. It's just this creepy little doctor. And he said nothing. And he just, the first thing he did was just open my gown. And again, just no eye contact. And, you know, I just kind of zoned out and stared at the wall and thought, you know, I don't know what's going on. I, you know, just...

I just need to get through this and then I will never come back here again. Rachel said the doctor fondled her breasts in silence as she stared at the wall. There was really no conversation, you know, and you're kind of waiting for that conversation to explain because you're just thinking, what is going on? What is going on? And you're just having this internal meltdown, but you're just trying to get through it and survive.

He stepped back when he was done and he asked me two questions about my migraines, just like something about when I drink wine or eat chocolate or something like that, does it trigger it? And then he, and he still wasn't even looking at me when he spoke to me, when he asked those two questions and then he just abruptly left. And that was it. That was the end of the exam.

I just sat there really stunned and then when I kind of came back to my senses I just got dressed and I left. I didn't speak to anyone. I came straight home and I told my husband as soon as he got home from work. I just said it was really weird and I don't know what to do with it and I don't think it was normal. And you know he was like well you know I'm sure he had some medical reason and that's just kind of what I had been telling myself too is that

you know, I'm not a doctor and you tend to freak out about medical appointments anyway and you know, like you're just overreacting, you know, no one's gonna take your word for it and you know, you just start second guessing yourself and thinking, you know, he's a neurologist, he wouldn't do something that wouldn't be right and you're just, you're overreacting and I kept telling myself, you need to understand, I'm sure there was a medical reason for what he did.

About four months later, I learned police moved forward with charges and I broke the story on Global News. A retired Calgary doctor has been charged with sexually assaulting former patients. The accused, a longtime specialist in our city, Nancy Hicks, joining us now. Nancy, the allegations span over the past 30 years.

Scott, Dr. Keith Hoyt is a retired neurologist now charged with three counts of sexual assault against three former female patients.

The Calgary Police Sex Crimes Unit started investigating Hoyt back in January when a woman came forward claiming she had been touched sexually during an examination. The complainant spoke with Global News. She was suffering from migraines and that's why she was referred to Hoyt. Police say it was only after this recent complaint came forward investigators looked back and found two other historical complaints with similar allegations, one from 2008 and one from 1991.

There's certain similarities between the three cases involved with the three victims. At that point, in consultation with the Crown Prosecutor's Office, we felt that there was enough there to go ahead with laying charges against the individual. Police say they will investigate if any other patients come forward. At that time, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta told me Hoyt was retired and was last licensed to practice in 2014.

They told me they were restricted and couldn't share details of any complaints unless it went to a hearing, but they did confirm that Dr. Hoyt was never subject to a hearing with the college.

My news story and subsequent media release by police spurred two dozen other women to come forward. Well, I came forward because I saw it on the news. One woman, who I'll call Samantha, said she was sexually assaulted more than 30 years earlier. She was in her mid-20s when she was referred to Dr. Keith Hoyt. I started getting migraines.

And so I did see my family doctor and he prescribed Tylenol 3 or Fioranol was another thing. And I got to the point where they're getting so bad that I couldn't see, like I was losing vision. And so I finally, it was probably once a week, right? But you're pretty much in the dark for 24 hours. And it's really hard when you have two little ones. At that point, I had two little girls.

Samantha's migraines were bad, and she was desperate for relief. To take care of you.

I remember walking into his office. It was a large reception area. There was nobody there except for a receptionist. And I had an appointment with him, so I walked, I was directed to go right into his office. So he had, you know, a pretty nice office and looked at me across his desk. And he had like a piece of, like a notepad and a pen, and he was asking me questions.

you know, like how long have you had these migraines and how long do they last? But the whole time he was talking to me, he was talking to my chest. And so I kept looking down because I thought maybe I spilled something. Like he didn't look at my face. Right away you have that feeling that comes over you, right? There's something, you know, just doesn't feel right. And so he asked me about if anyone in my family has migraines.

how long they'd been going on, and then he said, "Okay, I want you to go into the next room and take all your clothes off." So I got up and went into the next room, which was a doorway from his office into the exam room. I wasn't sure what he needed to look at. I mean, he's a neurologist, so that's your nervous system. So I'm thinking, okay, like maybe he has to check out things in my nervous system.

Anyways, I went in the room and there was no gown or sheet or anything. I just laid naked on this bench kind of thing, black leather bench. Samantha recalls Hoyt came into the exam room moments later carrying a bag. He opened up the bag and took out a pin. And he said he was going to pinprick me to test my reflexes, right? So he started with my feet first.

and started pin-pricking my feet and then up my legs and then in between my legs, on my stomach and then around the breasts and on the nipples. Yeah. The whole time I was just kind of frozen in fear, I think, and in shock, really. It was intimate. So to me it was a sexual thing because it was so intimate. But then a lot of times, you know, we're raised to be, it's okay to be naked with the doctor.

But usually, you know, you have some kind of a sheet on you or something. But anyways, I was just terrified, basically laying there terrified, thinking, I don't know if this, you know, and I couldn't speak. I didn't even speak. I don't know why. He was lingering on the breath. But, you know, the exam was long, like it seemed so long. Like I know it was maybe 20 minutes, but it seemed so long.

After he was finished, you know, holding my breasts and pricking my nipples on both sides and everything, he went kind of up my neck a little bit and on my shoulders. So he made it look like it was natural to go from head to toe, you know? And then he said he was going to check the blood flow behind my eyes. But the whole time he did that too, I'm still just laying there naked completely and

Yeah, it was just... Then he just said, "Okay, you can get dressed now and come back into my office." I went back into the same chair across from his desk in his office, and he didn't look at my face or look at me at all. He just had his face down on this notepad where he's making notes. And he said, "It's likely that your migraines are hereditary.

because I told them that my mom gets them sometimes and I'll send a report to your doctor you can go now. Samantha said she walked out as fast as she could. I felt violated I felt sick like I was gonna throw up yeah and I called my doctor's office to make an appointment

to come in because I wanted to find out like there's going to be results from this for the blood flow behind my eyes to see if there's something going on there. And also because I wanted to see my doctor and tell him what happened there. I told him everything that I went through in that appointment.

And he didn't make a note. He just looked at me and didn't say anything. Just kind of shook his head. I said, is this normal? Like, is this what an exam is supposed to be? And he didn't know. And I said, I really don't think I said, I just want you to know that this is what happened to me. And I don't think you should.

refer anyone to this doctor. But Samantha said years later, she found out her doctor continued to send patients to Hoyt. Yes, I know he did because he referred my mother to him. 2004 or something like that, my mom said she was going to go see this Dr. Hoyt, that our family doctor had referred her. And I said, well,

"Mom, this Dr. Hoyt sexually assaulted me." And I was just angry and frustrated and how nobody cared. So she's like, you know how moms are, "Well, I'm old. He's not going to try to sexually assault me." I'm like, "Well, Mom, that's not the point. The point is I asked our family doctor not to send anyone else to this neurologist. And, you know, he should be reporting him. Isn't he mandated to report this?"

Like, she went to see him and she said he never touched her in any inappropriate way. So it's like nobody believes you, you know? They look at you like, well, you didn't touch me like that. Like, I don't know what you're talking about. Again, I reached out to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta to ask if there was any disciplinary action against doctors who continued to refer patients to Hoyt after they were made aware of the allegations against him.

They said the CPSA doesn't have any records of physicians who would have been held accountable for not reporting Dr. Hoyt. I should note the Act to Protect Patients came into legislation in Alberta on April 1st, 2019. It mandates all physicians report any sexual abuse or misconduct between a physician and a patient.

Meanwhile, as the investigation into Hoyt continued, another woman, who I'll call Amy, also came forward after seeing my story pop up on Facebook. So I clicked on it and I ended up reading the article. So it was an online article posted through Global News. But I remember thinking to myself, serves you right, you SOB. I was kind of shocked because obviously, because then...

I don't know. I remember thinking, oh, okay, so it wasn't just me. You know, I didn't imagine it. It wasn't just me. He's been pulling this crap on other women.

I read at the bottom, you know, if you've been a victim or if you know somebody who has, please contact or encourage them to contact the Calgary Police Service. And I was at work when I saw that. I was sitting in my office. I closed my door.

And I was on the phone to CPS before I could even think twice about it. I thought, you know what? That's it. That's it. I'm doing this. Amy's assault also happened decades ago in the early 90s. She was sent to Dr. Keith Hoyt following a car crash. So we were at a green light and the car in front of us wanted to turn left. So we were sitting behind that car waiting for it to clear the intersection.

And we heard a screech and all of a sudden we got hit from behind. I had a herniated disc in my lower back at L5S1 in addition to severe whiplash. I mean, you know, the GP figured out I had whiplash. I had severe vertical, I had severe balance issues.

I would be lying in bed and I would literally be grasping the fitted sheet and or the mattress because I felt like

I was moving so hard and so fast that I thought the bed was trying to tip me out onto the floor. So I had a lot of really severe injuries from that car accident. I was literally a mess from the base of my skull right down to my tailbone.

as far as the injuries go, but the pain went right down to my toes. Amy said she'll never forget what happened the day she went to see Dr. Hoyt. I had the gown on with the opening to the back because of course, you know, that's where my injuries were at the back of the neck between the shoulder blades and the lower back just above the tailbone, right? So I remember I was sitting on the exam table

And I remember the doctor coming in and I remember he had a file in his hand, really didn't say much of anything. Like I, you know, kind of remember thinking to myself, well, this guy doesn't really talk much, does he? So I know he looked through the file. I know he put the file down at some point. I know that there was no nurse in the room.

Back then it was not a common practice and being a young, rather shy, kind of introverted, a little bit, definitely very naive, it wouldn't have occurred to me when you go see a neurologist to ask to have a nurse present in the room. So I didn't ask for anybody else to be in there.

So I remember sitting on the exam table and I'm pretty sure he must have asked a few questions. But again, I don't remember. What I do remember is that he took that gown, he took it down off my shoulders and basically, you know, kind of dropped it to my waist, you know, into my lap. And he just...

basically went straight for my chest and was fondling me and doing things that I thought, "Wait a minute, what does this have to do with anything?" I just realized I'm sitting here fidgeting with my blankets because my hands are working and they're all nervous.

He took both his hands and just kind of rubbed down the outside of both of my breasts at the same time. And I remember that he was, he took his thumb and he was just rubbing them over both my nipples and then, you know, just kind of rolling them a little bit or whatever. And I'm like,

what is going on here and all I can remember to this day is feeling humiliated and embarrassed whether you want to or not okay whether it's against your will or not that kind of action will elicit a sexual response in your own body okay so

When somebody is doing that, when somebody is fondling you, your breasts are going to react. And that is the part that I found humiliating and mortifying because I don't know this man. He's overweight, he's much older than I am, and he's doing this to me and I'm like,

When women talk about their body betraying them, that's exactly what I think about. And it's absolutely horrific. There's no feeling like that in the world. The next thing Amy remembers is getting dressed and leaving. She never went back. So what exactly was this? How do you process this? I guess I kind of ignored it and put it away because I had no answers.

You know, I didn't know what to do. I mean, at that time, you didn't necessarily talk about these. Well, I didn't talk about these things. I didn't know at that time what constituted a sexual assault. For nearly 30 years, there was one thought that replayed in her mind whenever she considered telling someone about Hoyt's abuse. Who's going to believe me?

When Amy finally went to police, she said she was shocked by one interaction with an investigator. When I was going through my statement and describing to him again what had happened to me, he was, you know, obviously I'm assuming he was taking notes and then his flippant, in my opinion, comment was, oh, okay, so it was just another boob grab.

And I'm thinking now looking back on it, he was probably, I don't know, maybe he was a little disappointed that there wasn't more to it. And, you know, looking back and reading some of these other women's accounts, you know, maybe mine wasn't as severe as some of the others or whatever. But at the same time, I was thinking,

You jerk, how dare you trivialize what happened to me? What do you mean just another boob grab? You can't minimize, you can't totally invalidate what happened to me by making that uninformed, uneducated, flippant, disrespectful comment. And I remember being shocked because I'm thinking,

But in this day and age, you're working a sex assault case. Why would you say something like that to a victim? It is extremely insensitive, if nothing else. And to me, it's completely uneducated. Things were different back then. The collective awareness about the incorrectness, the damage of

you know, a sexual assault. It's not the same as it is now. Mind you, you know, based on the comment that that detective made, you know, sometimes I wonder how much progress has been made. Although, you know, the public at large, society is putting up with less and less of it now. It doesn't mean it doesn't still happen, but there is certainly more awareness of it. And more of us, I hope,

feel strengthened and empowered to speak out about this crap and let people know it's not okay. And if you're a cop or you're a judge or you're a doctor and you do this to people or make comments like that to people or trivialize somebody else's pain, guess what? Somebody's going to call you on it. We don't have to be silent anymore.

After several more months of investigating, police finally charged Keith Hoyt with sexually assaulting 28 former patients. I've spoken with about a dozen of these women. Each of them left their appointments feeling violated, and at the time, many questioned if his neurological exams were legit.

To better explain what an appointment with a neurologist should and should not include, I turn to an expert. My name is Neil Hagan. I'm a neurologist with extra training in oncology and also in pain assessment and management. So I've been a general neurologist as well as a cancer neurologist working in a cancer department.

and a pain doc for about 25 years. Five years ago, Dr. Hagan stepped down from most of his clinical work. He's now a medical advisor for Alberta Health and for the Department of Health and Social Services in the Northwest Territories. Typically, if someone comes into a neurologist's office having been referred there for what might be migraine,

the patient would be asked to fill out some forms while they're waiting, which would describe their headache experience. How often, how severe, how long they last, what medications have been tried, for how long, and so on. Then when the patient comes in to see the neurologist, maybe someone will have taken the blood pressure and do the vital signs, the neurologist will really make sure that they understand what the patient wants out of this visit.

Then they'll go ahead and ask all about the symptoms that they've been having and review in detail their past history and their overall general health, family history and other parts of their story that could really bring some insight into what all is going on. And in migraine in particular, it would be what happens at the start? What do you first notice even before you get any pain, which might be nausea or some visual symptoms or some tingling?

and then the description of the headache, which side, and other details like that. After doing a detailed history, then the neurologist would do an exam.

It is well understood in the neurological community and throughout the medical community in all of Western worlds that a physician must obtain a patient's informed consent before an examination or assessment of any kind.

If there is any doubt about the nature of it, particularly if there is an intimate exam, which would include the breasts, it must be clear

clearly and explicitly described and consent must be obtained. So what I read in the description of the victims in this instance is that there was not consent, there was not an explanation, and there was a bit of

tomfoolery going on in that in the shroud of uncertainty, then a patient was touched in a way that they must never be touched. In Alberta, our College of Physicians and Surgeons has written explicit standards on boundary violations. They've defined what is sexual abuse. And in those standards, it indicates that touching

of a patient's body by a physician is not sexual abuse if touching is appropriate to the health care service that's being provided. But if a patient comes in with a migraine and there's nothing wrong with the skin of their chest, then it would be not appropriate to perform an intimate exam of that area.

And yet the victims who described what they experienced described that what happened was with such sleuth that they wondered, "What is this?" Well, there is no doubt that a patient should never be touched unless they know they're going to be touched. And in fact, consent is not only given, but it must continue to be given. And the physician should keep on checking. "How are you doing? Is that okay? Can I just check this here?"

Without doing that, you don't have consent. So what I read told me that this was inappropriate practice. Sometimes if a person is sick and they're worried, it's possible that there could be some misunderstanding, but it becomes pretty darned unlikely when there are 28 people with a very, very similar story.

In almost every medical school in Canada, the graduating class stands up, puts their hand on their heart and recites the Hippocratic Oath, which includes, in essence, first of all, do no harm. There has been, appears to have been, horrible harm and it's extremely unfortunate. If a patient goes to see a healthcare professional,

They go in good faith and they assume that the individual is well trained, is trustworthy and will do no harm.

So, yeah, it's very, very unsettling. Dr. Hagan was approached by the prosecutor in this case and was prepared to offer his opinion in court for Hoyt's sexual assault trial. The question that the Crown prosecutor posed to me was, is there a plausible explanation for patients to have been examined in the way that they described?

And there is no doubt, there is no way that this could be appropriate. But in the end, Dr. Hagen didn't have to testify. Neither did the victims, though many wanted to. Instead, Keith Hoyt admitted to sexually assaulting 28 female patients over 30 years.

An agreed statement of facts was read in court, outlining graphic assaults and a gross misuse of his position and power. The majority of women went to Hoyt because they suffered from migraines. Doctors for two women referred them because of concerns they may have multiple sclerosis. Other victims had chronic pain, fainting spells, seizures, numbness, and balance issues.

I should note there were further details alleged by two women that Hoyt did not admit to. Samantha was one of those two women. The judge in court asked about concessions, were concessions made? And the Crown said yes on two of the cases for the agreed statement of facts. And she said that he would not agree to assaulting anyone below the waist.

So that was the concession that I made just so he could get plead guilty and be convicted, you know. A sentencing hearing was held in September of 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. That created some additional challenges. The proceedings were held in a special ceremonial courtroom to allow for social distancing. About 20 of the women Hoyt assaulted were there in court to face him.

They were there to see him handed a three-year prison term, following a joint submission by his defense and the prosecution. Hoyt is eligible for day parole in March 2021 and full parole in September of 2021. During the sentencing hearing, the prosecutor read several of the victim impact statements for women who couldn't be there or chose not to read their own.

It was extremely emotional. And because of the trauma these women suffered, three court support dogs were brought into the room. This is often done in sexual assault cases in Calgary. I sat next to my friend, Rachel, and I was so proud of her as I listened to her read her statement in court.

Going to a new doctor and putting myself in a vulnerable position is hard for me at the best of times. So when I finally got up the nerve and courage to do it and then ended up coming home victimized, it really did change my life.

This old man used me for his own sexual gratification and then built the province for it. You lie to yourself, you pretend it was nothing when it most certainly was something. It was in fact a gross abuse of power. I never went back to that man or any other neurologist after that and instead spent years dealing with endless headaches. Because of that man's abuse, I became untrusting and unable to seek further medical attention from any other specialist.

I will continue to tell my story and hope that one day we live in a world where we can trust that doctors have their patients' best interests at heart. A world where real doctors help their patients heal. You, Keith Hoyt, are not a doctor. Years ago, when you assaulted that first woman and broke that sacred doctor's oath, you traded in your credentials for selfish gratification. You, Keith Hoyt, are a sex offender.

In covering this case, I learned the Calgary Police Service was first made aware of this sexual abuse 30 years ago. A woman made a police statement in March of 1991. A second woman reported a similar incident to police in 2008. You'll recall when the investigator called Rachel a few weeks after she went to police, they told her they located two historical complaints.

Again, in putting together this episode, I asked police if there was a reason those allegations weren't investigated decades ago and why charges weren't laid back then. CPS said, unfortunately, they don't have the answer to that question because it was three decades ago.

However, in 2018, when Rachel came forward, those files were reopened and charges laid in both cases. Nine of the 28 victims in this case agreed to speak with me. You've already heard from three of them.

I want to take the time now to give the others a voice. These are excerpts of their victim impact statements that they read for me. My family physician referred me to the defendant as I was experiencing symptoms similar to MS. Knowing I would be seeing a neurologist was both a relief and a cause for further concern. It was in this state of mind that I attended my appointment with the defendant.

I was anxious of the diagnosis, but hopeful, trusting in his professional comfort and care. What I met instead was a cold robotic predator with glazed eyes and cold hands. In a moment, I went from protected patient to a mound of flesh. As the defendant assaulted me, I felt the blood drain from me, detaching as though I was watching it happen to someone else. I was invisible and hollow.

What followed was wave upon wave of disbelief, shock, and self-doubt. Asking myself, did that just happen? You must be confused. He's a doctor after all. But I wasn't confused. I was sickened by his actions, his arrogance, his cruelty. I felt angry, disgusted, yet powerless. And so I find myself here today attempting to summarize how the defendant's actions have affected me.

I'm ambivalent, grateful for the opportunity, resentful that there is a need for it. On September 26, 2013, I was humiliated and degraded while attending his clinic. I went there trusting that someone was going to help me in finding a diagnosis for my numbness and tingling in my lower body, and all this doctor wanted to do was fondle my breasts and poke them with a pin.

After that day, I felt violated, angry, upset and very down on myself that I was put in that kind of situation. Since then, I have been diagnosed with anxiety, which I never even had a slight problem with before. Thanks for that. I have delayed writing this victim impact statement because it's very hard to bring up these sad and depressing emotions after seven years.

What you did was despicable, insulting and made me feel like a small worthless human that was only there for your personal satisfaction. The physical effects of what he did to me that day have had lasting effects that I continue to struggle with. I am now very uncomfortable when people get close to me or try to touch me.

The psychological effects for me are far worse. It does not matter where I am or what I am doing. Something will trigger my brain and the best way I can describe to you what happens is a video turns on in my head and I go through every second of that morning from the time I arrive for my appointment to the time I leave and sit in my car in the parking lot.

Every little detail is highlighted, from the chairs in the waiting room to the pictures on the walls, to the layout of the areas. And yes, everything Dr. Hoyt did to me replays in slow motion the horrific feelings I experienced that day return. I relive that day over and over.

I no longer have trust in medical professionals. I am extremely uncomfortable and resistant to having any type of examinations. I am on guard all the time. The feeling of being vulnerable never goes away. Simply put, we are here because he got caught, not because there is any remorse for his actions. I believe he intentionally misused his position in a respected professional capacity for personal gratification without any regard for those he hurt.

And the fact that he benefited personally and financially while doing this is disgraceful to me. During and after the assault, I felt completely humiliated, degraded, violated, and then devastated. I felt physically ill and in a state of shock. I was shaking uncontrollably, even experiencing great difficulty breathing.

keeping hold of the steering wheel while trying to drive myself to the safety of my home. I felt totally helpless and taken advantage of by someone who was in a position of authority. I will forever feel let down and disappointed by a medical expert whom I needed

to fix my excruciating back pain and do no harm. I will try to move on with my life, hoping that time will heal the wounds within me, as this is something that I know must be done in order to regain my inner peace. I look forward to someday being able to rid myself of this crippling anxiety.

that I frequently injure. For about three decades, I have had Dr. Hoyt's business card sitting in the top drawer of my bedside table, unable to throw it away because I knew what I had been through was wrong. I kept it so that I would never forget his name, never forget what he had done. When I heard on the news that Dr. Hoyt had been charged with sexual assault, I fell to the floor and sobbed.

My internal battle was over. I knew I was right. I was indeed sexually assaulted. When I saw a picture of his face, it all came back to me. I could remember his warm breath on my neck and I was disgusted. I knew he took advantage of his position and my innocence. I will burst into tears and must explain to people why.

My tears are for the struggle I have been through and the realization of the healing I need. It will take time for me to move on, but move on I will, knowing that Dr. Hoyt cannot abuse another patient again. I can move on knowing that there are good doctors and some bad doctors. I have decided to no longer call Dr. Hoyt a doctor as he does not fit the definition of a true doctor to me.

In your impenetrable office you exposed me. You didn't care how I slouched away from your touch, my shoulders hunching in an effort to hide my bare vulnerability. You poked and prodded, felt and enjoyed. I tried to cover my nakedness with my feeble gown. You grunted in anger and exposed me again. In fear I froze, while you enjoyed. Did you notice my distress? Of course not. This was never about me.

It was about you, what you wanted and desired, what you knew you could do. Again, I covered myself with my paper-thin gown. Again, you angrily bared me with an exasperated grunt, believing you had every right. I felt small, foolish, and embarrassed, a piece of meat used for your disgusting desire. You caused this helplessness. ♪

Thank you for joining me this week. And thank you to all of these brave women who shared their stories. Crime Beat is written and produced by me, Nancy Hixt, with producer Dila Velasquez. Audio editing and sound design is by Rob Johnston. Special thanks to photographer-editor Danny Lantella for his work on this episode.

And thanks to Chris Bassett, the acting VP of National and Network News for Global News.

I would love to have you tell a friend about this podcast. And you can help me share these important stories by rating and reviewing Crime Beat on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. You can find me on Twitter at Nancy Hixt, on Facebook at Nancy Hixt Crime Beat. And I would love to have you join me for added content on Instagram at nancy.hixt. That's N-A-N-C-Y dot H-I-X-T.

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