This text was produced by The Salt Lake Tribune, which was a member of ProPublica’s Native Reporting Community in 2022 and 2023. Join Dispatches to get tales like this one as quickly as they’re revealed.
Utah OB-GYN David Broadbent was charged Thursday with forcible sexual abuse, as prosecutors allege he sexually touched a affected person throughout a 2020 examination.
Broadbent has been accused in civil lawsuits of inappropriately touching greater than 100 sufferers throughout exams — however that is the primary time Utah County prosecutors have filed a prison cost in opposition to him. He faces a second-degree felony, which carries a possible penalty of as much as 15 years in jail.
Over the previous yr, The Salt Lake Tribune and ProPublica have reported a number of tales about the difficulties ladies confronted as they raised complaints of sexual misconduct in opposition to Broadbent, together with obstacles within the courts and in reporting to police.
In charging data, prosecutors say one in all Broadbent’s sufferers got here to see him in 2020 concerning a bump in her vaginal space. Broadbent allegedly instructed the affected person to undress from the waist down — however when he returned to the examination room after she modified, prosecutors say he lifted up her shirt and bra and touched her breasts. He then grabbed her leg “in what felt like a sexual method,” prosecutors say, and started a vaginal examination.
An legal professional representing Broadbent in his civil litigation didn’t reply to a request for remark. No legal professional is but listed in his prison case.
Deputy Utah County Lawyer Tim Taylor, who’s a spokesperson for the prosecutor’s workplace, mentioned Thursday that police and prosecutors are persevering with to research and are nonetheless contemplating whether or not to file extra fees in opposition to the OB-GYN.
No less than 49 ladies have reported to the Provo police that Broadbent sexually abused them throughout exams, and prosecutors have been weighing whether or not to file fees for 18 months. This month, the county legal professional’s workplace agreed to pay for a nurse practitioner who focuses on sexual assault exams to evaluate the proof that prosecutors have and to do analysis and advise them on what the usual of care is for an OB-GYN appointment.
Lots of the ladies who made experiences to the police allege Broadbent inappropriately touched their breasts, vaginas and rectums throughout exams — usually with out warning or rationalization and in ways in which harm them and made them really feel violated. Different former sufferers, together with most of the ladies who went to the police, have additionally sued Broadbent or the hospitals the place he labored, with a complete of almost 120 ladies making sexual assault allegations in two civil lawsuits.
In September 2022, a choose dismissed one of many civil circumstances, which was filed by 94 ladies, when he dominated that it fell below medical malpractice regulation as an alternative of a civil sexual assault declare. That meant it had confronted — and missed — tighter submitting deadlines. The ladies have appealed the ruling to the Utah Supreme Courtroom, they usually have been ready for seven months for its choice.
In a distinct civil go well with, 20 different ladies sued two hospitals the place Broadbent labored and had privileges at, alleging they knew of alleged misconduct and didn’t act. That case continues to be pending; the hospitals have argued in court docket data that Broadbent’s alleged actions in opposition to these ladies didn’t happen on their premises and subsequently they aren’t liable.
Broadbent has agreed to cease practising medication whereas this prison investigation is ongoing. In response to the civil case filed by the group of 94 ladies, Broadbent’s attorneys have mentioned sexual assault allegations in opposition to him are “with out advantage.”
The lady whose report led to the prison cost noticed Broadbent in July 2020. A yr and a half later, in December 2021, one other former affected person of Broadbent’s spoke out publicly on the podcast “Mormon Tales,” describing the painful manner she mentioned he had examined her years earlier than and the way it left her feeling traumatized.
After the podcast aired, ladies began coming ahead publicly in civil lawsuits accusing Broadbent of inappropriate touching. Former sufferers additionally began making experiences with the police, although it’s not clear from court docket data when the lady whose report led to the prison cost went to regulation enforcement.
