If you were a patient of Dr. David Beary, we believe you.
Forty years of colonoscopies and endoscopies in St. Bernard Parish. In June the sheriff's office charged him with four counts of sexual battery, and what a surgical tech says she saw happened while the patients were under. If he ever put you under, this is about you.
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6 questions. Your answers are private and go to one person.
Looking for the page about the hospital? St. Bernard Parish Hospital survivors.
This applies to you no matter what
- You were sedated and remember nothing. That is the whole point. The four counts he is charged with all describe patients who were under.
- It wasn't at the hospital. He saw patients on Paris Road for decades, and at other hospitals. The questions above cover all of it.
- Nobody from the hospital ever called you. Two patients have already said the same thing in court, and their cases turn on it.
- You had a good experience with him, or thought you did, for years. A lot of his patients did. That is not a reason to stay quiet if something nags at you.
- You are a husband, a daughter, a friend asking for someone who can't. Reach out anyway.
Dr. David Beary: what the public record says, and when
We didn't write what's below. A sheriff's office did, and a court, and the reporters who covered it, and we link to every one of them. We don't add to it. Dr. Beary has denied the allegations through his lawyer, and nothing here says otherwise.
1997
The Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners suspended Beary's license over prescribing controlled substances. It was reinstated later, with conditions. That is a different matter from anything alleged now, and it is on the record. KNOE.
June 24, 2026
The St. Bernard Sheriff's Office issued an arrest warrant for David Allen Beary, 71, gastroenterologist. Four counts of sexual battery. A surgical technician had reported that he touched sedated female patients during procedures at St. Bernard Parish Hospital on or about May 1. Sheriff's office release.
June 26, 2026
Booked two days later, out the same day on a $20,000 bond, and through his lawyer he denies every bit of it. Authorities put two more things on the record: the conduct is alleged to have happened mid-procedure, and his last day at the hospital was May 1, 2026. Fox 8.
July 1, 2026
The first civil suit, filed in the 34th Judicial District Court by a 78-year-old patient. It names the hospital and Ochsner, not only Beary, and says the hospital waited 41 days to tell her. Fox 8.
August 17, 2026
A second suit, by a healthcare professional who was his patient. Same court, same defendants, a 34-day delay pleaded this time. Filing announcement.
We checked this on September 11, 2026, and the newest thing in it is from August 17, 2026. When something new gets filed or decided, it goes in here within 72 hours, with the link.
Who answers for what Dr. Beary is accused of
The criminal case is his to answer. The civil cases are a different thing, and they are the part most people don't know they can do. Both suits already filed are against St. Bernard Parish Hospital and Ochsner Health, which runs it, because a hospital owes a sedated patient supervision, and owes every patient the truth when its own staff report something. The two complaints say the hospital knew, and waited: 41 days for one woman, 34 for the other. That delay, not the doctor, is the case against the institution.
He was not a hospital employee. He had privileges there, and he had his own office. That matters for who is named and for the deadline, and it is one of the first things a lawyer will look at for you.
Your deadline: the Louisiana statute of limitations for sexual battery and hospital negligence claims
Be careful with what you read online about this. Google's own summary says adults in Louisiana get one year. For what is described here, that is not the number, and getting it wrong could cost you your claim.
Louisiana gives three years for a civil claim based on a sexual assault, counted from the injury or from the day law enforcement was told (La. Civil Code art. 3496.2). A negligence claim against the hospital, for conduct after July 1, 2024, gets two years instead (art. 3493.1). And a wrinkle nobody online mentions: the charge against Dr. Beary is misdemeanor sexual battery, and whether the three-year rule covers that is something no Louisiana court has ruled on yet. Anyone who promises you one clean date is guessing.
In plain words. Some of the deadlines here run out two years from the day it happened. If your procedure was in 2024, that clock has been running for a while. Talk to a lawyer now, not after you've decided whether it "counts."
Your situation still qualifies even if
- You have never said it out loud. Not to a spouse, not to anyone.
- You don't have a word for it, and you're half convinced nothing happened at all.
- You kept seeing him afterward. Plenty of people did.
- It was years ago, long before May 2026.
- You live in another state now.
Where he worked
St. Bernard Parish Hospital, Chalmette · his gastroenterology office on Paris Road · West Jefferson Medical Center · Bridgepoint. Forty years of practice; if your care was somewhere else, tell us anyway.
Questions people are asking
Who is Dr. David Beary?
The gastroenterologist in St. Bernard Parish, for a lot of families. Seventy-one now, forty-odd years in practice, privileges at St. Bernard Parish Hospital and his own office on Paris Road. Then June 2026, and the sheriff's office charging him with four counts of sexual battery, all of them involving patients who were sedated. He says none of it happened.
Can I sue Dr. Beary or the hospital?
Two patients already have, in the 34th Judicial District Court, and both cases name the hospital and Ochsner as well as the doctor. Whether you can depends on when your care was and what happened, which is exactly what the questions above sort out.
I was sedated for a colonoscopy with him. How would I even know if something happened?
You probably wouldn't, and that is the honest answer nobody else is giving you. The sheriff's office says the alleged conduct happened while patients were under. You were his patient. Something about it has nagged at you. That is reason enough to ask, and nobody on our end pushes past whatever you decide to say.
How much does a sexual assault attorney cost?
Here, nothing. Every case is on contingency. The lawyer is paid only out of what is recovered, and if nothing is recovered you owe nothing. Not for the call, not for the review, not for the case.
Has Dr. Beary lost his license?
Not that we can find on the public record as of this writing. The Board suspended him once before, in 1997, over prescriptions, and reinstated him. We update this page within three days of anything new.
What kind of lawyer do I need?
A civil lawyer who handles institutional sexual abuse, meaning cases against hospitals, not only the individual. That is the only kind we work with, and the firm we work with handles Louisiana cases whether you are in Chalmette, in New Orleans, or out of state now.
Who sees your form
Kerim Eravci · Survivor Advocate · Not a lawyer
I was a victim, and I waited. Not because I didn't know what happened to me (I knew every day), but because I'd decided it was over, mine to carry, nobody's business. When I finally went looking for a lawyer, the answer came back in two words I'd never thought about: statute of limitations. My time had run out while I was busy getting through it.
What that has cost me since is a long story, and I'll tell you the whole thing in private, if you want it. The short version is the reason my name is on this page: I'm here to help people do what I wish I'd done, which is find out where you stand while the door's still open.
I'm not a lawyer. I read what you send, I call you once, on your terms, and nothing gets filed unless you say so. Ask sooner than I did.
Kerim Eravci is not an attorney. He's a survivor.
What happens next. Three steps, nothing more until you say so.
- You answer 6 questions. Nothing is filed. Nothing starts.
- A survivor calls you, once. Not a robot, not a call center. Someone who has been where you are.
- You decide. You find out your options. If you want to stop there, you stop there.
How this works
ME2 Survivors Alliance protects the heart. Licensed Louisiana attorneys do the legal work. We are not lawyers and we don't pretend to be.
You never pay a dollar
Every case is on contingency. There is no charge for the call, the review, or the case. The firm is paid only out of a recovery, and if there is no recovery you owe nothing.