The behavior of a prominent UCLA Health gynecologist during an exam with a married mother of four amounted to sexual assault and harassment, according to an investigative report by the university made public Thursday.
It took UCLA almost two years to complete the investigation into allegations raised by a patient against Dr. James Heaps, a 63-year-old physician who was arrested in June on sexual battery and exploitation charges.
The woman saw Heaps in June 2017 to have an intrauterine device, or IUD, removed after she experienced intense uterine cramping shortly after the device was inserted. During the appointment, Heaps allegedly grabbed the woman’s left breast and her buttocks and fondled her clitoral piercing. The doctor’s behavior frightened and alarmed the woman, who was seeing Heaps because her usual gynecologist was unavailable, and she later told her doctor what happened in the appointment, according to the report and interviews with the patient and her attorneys.
A panel of three board-certified physicians and third-party evaluator who reviewed the case were unanimous that Heaps acted inappropriately in touching the woman’s breast and buttocks because she didn’t report pain in either.
Read the full story on LATimes.com.
