Doctor charged with sexual assault against patient arrested in St. Tammany Parish

SLIDELL, La. (WVUE) – A New Orleans-area doctor was arrested Wednesday (Oct. 30) after being accused of sex crimes by at least two patients, the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office said.

Dr. Keith Hickey was charged with sexual battery, attempted sexual battery, assault and simple assault, the agency said.

State medical directories list Hickey, 63, as a cardiologist affiliated with the LA Heart Center in Slidell, Slidell Memorial Hospital and St. Bernard Parish Hospital.

The St. Tammany Sheriff's Office said Hickey lives in New Orleans, and an online biography said he graduated from the LSU Health Sciences Center at the New Orleans School of Medicine and completed a residency at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, completed.

The STPSO said it began investigating Hickey in May after a woman reported that her doctor “touched her inappropriately” during one of her appointments. The woman told investigators that Hickey told her to take off her clothes and then “began touching her breast and vaginal area while making inappropriate comments,” the agency said.

During the course of this investigation, STPSO said a second woman came forward to report a similar incident involving the same doctor.

That woman told investigators that during a doctor's appointment, Hickey “made sexual advances toward her while trying to pull down her pants and put his hands under her shirt,” according to the agency. The office said both alleged crimes occurred in St. Tammany Parish.

According to STPSO, an arrest warrant was obtained for Hickey on Wednesday and the doctor was taken into custody and booked into the St. Tammany Parish Correctional Center.

The sheriff's office said the investigation is ongoing and that anyone else who believes they may have been a victim of Hickey should contact investigators at (985) 898-2341.

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