Judge’s Ruling That Sex Assaults Were Medical Malpractice Now Before Utah Supreme Court

A Utah judge ruled that sexual assaults alleged by more than 100 women against an OB-GYN falls under medical malpractice claims and dismissed their complaint in a civil suit they had filed against the doctor.

Fourth District Court Judge Robert Lunnen made the ruling in October, but the Utah Supreme Court, in a rare decision, recently agreed to retain the case and hear it on appeal.

In a recent interview with The Epoch Times, Attorney Adam Sorenson, who led efforts to get the case before the Utah Supreme Court, called the ruling “offensive.”

Lunnen had decided that the allegations were more along the line of medical injuries and were actions that should be brought under the Utah Health Care Malpractice Act.

In his ruling, Lunnen wrote “because OBGYN’s commonly examine sensitive, otherwise private areas of a woman’s person including the pelvic area generally, the vaginal area, and the breasts, the Court opines that the alleged misconduct occurred in the course of obstetrical treatment.”

The ruling left the attorneys for the victims, the victims themselves, and the local community shocked.

Attorneys for the women recently told The Epoch Times they are equally shocked that there have been no criminal charges brought against Dr. David Broadbent even though dozens of the women filed complaints with local police more than a year ago.

“There are at least 150 women in Utah who are wondering every day when and if the people who are in authority and hired by our society to protect them are going to bring charges on their behalf,” Attorney G. Erick Nielson, who represents some of the women in the case, told The Epoch Times. “I am mystified as to why Dr. Broadbent has not yet been charged.”

Attorneys for Broadbent did not respond to inquiries from The Epoch Times. His Provo, Utah, practice, which is primarily gynecology, is listed as permanently closed.

On Jan. 17, Nielson, an attorney for some of the women, sent an eight-page letter to Utah District Attorney Jeff Gray detailing his shock and disgust with the way the women’s allegations have been handled.

Nielson told The Epoch Times that his clients indicated to him that police were “condescending” and “dismissive” when they reported their alleged assaults.

He told The Epoch Times he suspects the number of alleged victims to be closer to 200.

Provo police did not respond to inquiries from The Epoch Times about the case.

Newly elected Utah County prosecutor Jeff Gray told The Epoch Times he too disagreed with Lunnen’s ruling and vowed he would criminally prosecute the case if there is enough evidence to do so. He is currently waiting for the police to complete their investigation and turn their findings over to his office.

“These cases can take some time to investigate,” said Gray.

Gray, who pointed out he is only seven weeks into the job as the county’s top prosecutor, called on tougher prosecution of sex assault crimes in his campaign for Utah County district attorney.

“It’s not healthcare to sexually assault someone, that’s all there is to it,” he said. “I don’t care whether your a doctor or some other instance, it doesn’t matter, if there’s a sexual assault, then that needs to be prosecuted.”

The civil suit filed against Broadbent last year details more than 100 allegations of sexual assault against the doctor including women who were minors at the time of the alleged assaults.

Court documents in the case show that it was Broadbent’s lawyers who raised the argument that the case should be argued as a medical malpractice action.

They also stated that since the very scope of a gynecologist “entails ensuring the health of women’s sexual and reproductive organs, Dr. Broadbent was within the course and scope of his employment at all relevant times.”

Lunnen wrote in his order that “accepting all allegations as true,” Broadbent’s “treatment of his patients is insensitive, disrespectful and degrading.”

Some of the allegations against Broadbent date back 40 years, which has raised a legal question about Utah’s statute of limitations in the case. Utah had a four-year statute of limitations on rape and other sexual assaults in Utah until 2013 when a new law was passed that eliminated the statute of limitations.

According to Gray, since some of the victims were minors at the time of the alleged assault, their cases can still be prosecuted because the statutes of limitations that did exist only applied to crimes against adults.

The first round of appellate briefs is being filed with the Utah Supreme Court this week in the case. Sorenson said he doesn’t expect the case to be heard by the Court until sometime in the Fall.

Intermountain Health, Broadbent’s employer, and its parent company, Utah Valley Hospital, are also named in the suit. Neither the hospital nor its attorney responded to inquiries from The Epoch Times about the case. The complaint alleges the companies ignored complaints about Broadbent and allowed him to continue to practice under their names.