Former nurse gets nine years for sexually assaulting patient at Southlake hospital

CAUTION: This article contains graphic testimony.

FORT WORTH — An ex-Methodist Southlake Hospital nurse convicted last week of drugging and then sexually assaulting a patient in 2017 was sentenced Tuesday to nine years in prison.

A Tarrant County jury sentenced Hoa "Kevin" Cam Huyen to nine years on one count of sexual assault and 10 years probation on a second count.

Huyen, 35, of Argyle had faced a maximum of 20 years in prison on each charge.

Jurors had been scheduled to start the punishment phase of Huyen's case on Friday, but it was postponed until Tuesday.

Last week, the jury of seven men and five women found Huyen guilty of two counts of sexual assault of the patient who was undergoing hip replacement surgery in March 2017.

Huyen did not take the witness stand.

In March 2017, the patient who was drugged by Huyen woke up twice and he was penetrating her vagina with his fingers, according to court documents.

Huyen injected diphenhydramine — an antihistamine sold under the brand name Benadryl — into the IV of the patient, and then sexually assaulted her.

The woman told Southlake officers that the medication made her sleep and she awoke to find the nurse abusing her.

Huyen was arrested in March 2017.

Six months before that, another patient at Methodist Southlake Hospital reported a nurse named Kevin had repeatedly touched her breasts and given her a medication against her wishes that left her dizzy and fighting to stay awake, according to a police affidavit.

That woman testified last week telling the jury that Huyen gave her medication for pain even though she wasn't complaining of pain.

"He cupped my breasts and touched my nipples," the woman testified. "It was all awkward and uncomfortable."

Southlake police investigated her report but suspended the case in January 2017 after the hospital would not provide further information about the identity of the accused nurse, the affidavit states.

Huyen has a history of sexual misconduct complaints, including the two from Southlake and two from Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Flower Mound, according to nursing records, a police affidavit and court documents obtained by the Star-Telegram.

Since 2007, Huyen has worked at two other hospitals in North Texas — Methodist Dallas Medical Center and Baylor Scott & White Medical Center-Grapevine.

The two incidents at the Southlake hospital prompted the Texas Board of Nursing to temporarily suspend Huyen's nursing license on June 23, 2017. He voluntarily surrendered his nursing license a few weeks later.

Methodist Health System officials have not answered specific questions about the hospital's handling of the matter.

This report contains information from Star-Telegram archives.

This story was originally published May 29, 2018 at 6:38 PM with the headline "Former nurse gets nine years for sexually assaulting patient at Southlake hospital."