SALT LAKE CITY (Legal Newsline) - Dozens of women accusing a Utah gynecologist of sexually abusing them have won a key ruling at the state's Supreme Court that reverses an order dismissing their lawsuit.
Dr. David Broadbent's legal troubles include one criminal charge and civil claims from more than 100 women who allege outrageous behavior during exams, like touching their breasts and inserting his finger into their rectums.
Procedural issues jeopardized their case, however. In medical-malpractice lawsuits, many states have pre-litigation requirements. In Utah, these include 90 days' notice to a defendant and presentation of claims to a pre-litigation panel that determines whether they have merit.
This wasn't done in the case against Broadbent because the plaintiffs felt his behavior fell outside the scope of malpractice. Intermountain Healthcare, Broadbent and MountainStar Healthcare convinced Provo judge Robert Lunnen otherwise, and he dismissed the lawsuit.
The Utah Supreme Court overturned him on Aug. 8 in a ruling by Justice Paige Petersen, a former New York federal prosecutor. She wrote the claims do not stem from health care but rather Broadbent abusing his position as their doctor to sexually assault them.
"The point of their claims is that his actions were not really health care at all," Petersen wrote.
"And the fact that Broadbent committed the alleged sexual assaults during medical appointments or examinations does not bring that conduct within the Malpractice Act's definition of health care because the Plaintiffs allege Broadbent's abusive conduct had no medical purpose and was outside the scope of any legitimate health care he provided."
Prosecutors have received about 50 complaints from women and are trying to decide if Broadbent should be charged with more than the one second-degree felony crime already filed against him, according to The Salt Lake Tribune.
He's practiced in Provo for decades but has suspended that while courts handle claims against him. One allegation is from a teenage virgin who was seeking birth control before getting married.
"Your fiancée is pretty lucky to get to have sex with a girl like you," he allegedly told her before warning her of vaginal pain during intercourse because a penis is the equivalent of three to four fingers in width.
"Watch this," he allegedly said next before inserting three of his fingers into her vagina.
Another woman who was suffering from painful cramping during her periods says Broadbent had her take her top off and squeezed her nipples, telling her he needed to make sure they "could get hard."
The women make many more claims of abuse. They said they were unsure whether to bring them to light but a December 2021 episode of the podcast "Mormon Stories" featured an alleged victim, which helped the women come forward, the Tribune reported.
In Utah, medical malpractice is defined as "any action against a health care provider... based upon alleged personal injuries relating to or arising out of health care rendered... by the health care provider."
So it was important to determine whether his actions constituted "health care."
"Broadbent's alleged abusive acts are not health care under the Malpractice Act just because they occurred at the time of a medical exam," Justice Petersen wrote.
"Nor are they health care because Broadbent's position as an OB-GYN gave him an enhanced opportunity to commit the alleged acts under the guise of medical necessity."