Calgary neurologist Dr. Keith Hoyte has been convicted of 27 more charges of sexual assault. This is on top of his previous conviction of sexually assaulting 28 patients.
Hoyte, 75, pleaded guilty in Calgary court to assaulting the 25 women and two teenage girls aged 16 and 17.
An agreed statement of facts by Crown Prosecutor Rosalind Greenwood and defence lawyer Alain Hepner was entered into the court on Jan. 4, 2024, which Justice Allan Fradsham accepted. He will be sentenced at a later date.
According to court documents, from 1983 to 2013, Hoyte groped and fondled dozens of female patients between the ages of 16 and 46. He was 36 to 65 years old when he committed the crimes.
Patients would go to Hoyte for severe headaches, strokes, seizures, vision difficulties, and facial and joint pain. He would make them undress. He would untie their gowns and grope their breasts.
“The criminally offending behaviours, none of which had a medical purpose, involved the patients having to disrobe more than was necessary, exposing their breasts (and sometimes groin areas), and Dr. Hoyte touching the patients’ breasts, and, infrequently, thighs and groin areas,” state court documents. “Patients described the contact with their breasts using words such as “groping”, “fondling”, “touching”, “poking”, “rubbing”, “squeezing”, and “cupping”. Four patients described Dr. Hoyte using pin pricks on their breasts. One patient described it graphically in these words: “…it was, like, a teenage boy that had not felt boobs before….” Two patients described Dr. Hoyte “ripping” (i.e., forcefully lowering) the gown being worn by the patient. Two patients described Dr. Hoyte bringing his groin area into contact with their bodies.”
Seventeen Victim Impact Statements were read in open court. Common themes were a sense of betrayal, a loss of the trust relationship expected between a treating physician and a vulnerable patient, feelings of degradation, and a feeling of anger at having possibly put others at risk by failing to promptly report the offences. Each victim indicated that she was seeking medical assistance for a problem of significant concern to her, and in that context, the conduct of Dr. Hoyte was particularly harmful. In many cases, the victims, as a result of Dr. Hoyte’s conduct, had, and continue to have, difficulty trusting other males, including other male physicians, and, in some cases, were so adversely affected as to have deferred seeking additional medical assistance.
Hoyte, who retired in 2013, is on parole after being released from prison on is previous sexual assault charges. In 2020 he was sentenced to three years in prison. After he was sentenced, dozens more women came forward.
The judge said, “Dr. Hoyte’s expressions of remorse and understanding are not genuine. He has no real insight into his offending behaviour, and, as postulated by Dr. Baillie, Dr. Hoyte’s statements, which seemingly contradict the contents of the section 655 Agreed Statement of Facts, are fueled by a desire that he be seen, both by himself and others, as a “good person.”
