Dozens more women came forward accusing Provo OB-GYN Dr. David Broadbent of sexual assault, bringing the number of plaintiffs to 50 and counting.
The four plaintiffs in the original complaint accused Broadbent of sexual assault and sexual battery during gynecological exams he conducted at his private practice office on north University Avenue near Cougar Boulevard.
But once more women came forward and accused Broadbent of assault during visits at Utah Valley Hospital, plaintiff’s attorney Adam Sorenson said the firm decided to name Intermountain Healthcare as a defendant.
The amended complaint was filed in 4th District Court on March 14. Court documents say Intermountain and MountainStar Healthcare affiliated with Broadbent and failed to stop him despite complaints against him.
“I can’t say I expected any of it,” Sorenson said, adding that it was pretty hard to hear some of the accounts from the women. “All of it’s pretty shocking. Regardless of which person it is, but some of them really are horrifying.”
Sorenson said there are still women coming forward who deserve to be heard and attorneys are ready to go all the way to a jury trial if they need to.
“Our main goal is just to make sure this doesn’t happen again, that he can’t practice and do this to other women,” Sorenson said. “We’re ready for whatever comes.”
Utah Valley Hospital spokesperson Lance Madigan told The Daily Universe “Broadbent is an independent physician and has never been an employee of Utah Valley Hospital.”
“When the hospital learned of this lawsuit, Dr. Broadbent’s privileges to deliver babies or provide any other services at the hospital were immediately suspended,” Madigan said. “We take these allegations very seriously and are committed to ensure the safety of our patients.”
MountainStar released this statement to The Daily Universe last month in response to being named in the lawsuit:
“We sympathize with and fully support any individuals in the recently filed lawsuit who may have experienced this alleged behavior at the physician’s private clinic in Provo,” it says. “Like hundreds of other physicians who practice privately in our community, this physician is not employed by any MountainStar hospital.”
“Over the years, this physician has seen a small number of patients at one of our facilities each year; however, to our knowledge, there are no allegations of inappropriate conduct at our facility. The physician is not currently authorized to see patients at our facility.”
“While we empathize with the people involved, we believe we were inappropriately named in this lawsuit and we will defend ourselves accordingly.”
The number listed for Broadbent’s office went to a message saying there isn’t a voice mailbox set up on March 24. When The Daily Universe called his office on Feb. 23, a voicemail message said it was closed until March 1.
Sorenson said once Broadbent was back in his office, the firm served him the original complaint. He said Broadbent has since hired an attorney who received the amended complaint.
The Daily Universe left a message for Broadbent’s attorney David C. Epperson who was not in his office on March 24. This story will be updated with any statement from him.
Jane Doe B.H.
One plaintiff, Jane Doe B.H., saw Broadbent at Utah Valley Hospital in December 2008 while she was in preterm labor at 33 weeks gestation, according to court documents. Her brother-in-law was in the room one night while visiting her and her husband.
Broadbent told Jane Doe B.H. he needed to check her vitals and listened to her heartbeat with his stethoscope, court documents say.
She thought Broadbent was done when he reached his hand completely down the front of her gown and groped her breast with his whole hand, according to court documents.
Broadbent asked “is it tender?” with his hand still holding her breast according to court documents. Before she could answer, Broadbent reached down and groped her other breast, exposing part of her body which her brother-in-law inadvertently saw.
“The way he groped her breast was nothing like breast exams Jane Doe B.H. subsequently experienced,” court documents say, adding that she would cringe every time Broadbent would enter her room after that and hoped he would not touch her.
Broadbent continued to be her OB-GYN provider for the next few days, according to court documents. Jane Doe B.H. shared her experience with a nurse manager who said she would “escalate the situation.”
Jane Doe B.H. received a new OB-GYN and was later discharged. But she never heard back from anyone at Utah Valley Hospital according to court documents. When contacted about her bill, she told the hospital she would not pay it until she heard things were taken care of because Broadbent had groped her breasts.
“Utah Valley Hospital told her that she would need to take it up with Broadbent’s office because he was not the hospital’s employee and they were not responsible for his behavior,” court documents say.
Six years later, Jane Doe B.H. was employed by Intermountain according to court documents. She shared the experience she had with Broadbent in an email to the hospital administrator at the time, who then shared it with the chief medical officer.
The officer told the plaintiff that Broadbent was “disciplined” for what he did to her and had to undergo mandatory trainings before caring for patients again, according to court documents.
“While Jane Doe B.H. was somewhat happy to hear that at least something was done, she was still displeased to hear that Broadbent was still seeing patients. At that time, she was also too scared of losing her job to push the case any further,” court documents say.
Jane Doe C.C.
Another plaintiff, Jane Doe C.C., made an appointment with Broadbent at his private practice office in late summer 2005 when she found out she was pregnant, court documents say.
A nurse took her vitals and did not return for the rest of the visit according to court documents. When Broadbent came in the room, he told her to lay down on the table. He immediately grabbed her gown, opened it and began feeling her breasts without any warning.
According to court documents, Jane Doe C.C. asked what Broadbent was doing and he said, “Just lay there and let me do my job.” He began asking Jane Doe C.C.’s fiance questions about their relationship, such as how long they had been engaged.
Without warning, Broadbent began inserting his fingers into her vagina and started asking questions about her fiance and sex life: how many times they had sex a week, what positions they used, if it hurt, did she enjoy it, if she could climax/orgasm, and so on, according to court documents.
“Jane Doe C.C. was still frozen and could not answer, so her fiancé answered on her behalf, all while Broadbent had his hand inside of Jane Doe C.C.’s vagina,” court documents say.
Broadbent began asking questions about the couple’s religion, plans to get married and if the baby was planned, court documents say.
“As they answered, Broadbent seemed to become angrier and began yelling at them about being bad examples, told them that they were going to hell for sinning, for being horrible parents for wanting to bring an unplanned child into this world without being good members of the Church, and telling them they would be better off without the child — all while his hand was still in Jane Doe C.C.’s vagina,” court documents say.
According to court documents, Broadbent then stood up with one hand still inside Jane Doe C.C.’s vagina and placed his other hand on her lower abdomen, just above her pelvic bone and felt around before firmly planting his hand in one place.
“Then, with a quick movement, Broadbent pushed both hands together, with the fingers in Jane Doe C.C.’s vagina pushing up towards her abdomen and the hand on her abdomen pushing in toward her body and down toward her vagina at the same time,” court documents say.
The plaintiff felt excruciating pain according to court documents. When Broadbent finished, he said “This should help you out” and told Jane Doe C.C. to come back in a few weeks for medications and that she could expect bleeding, court documents say.
Jane Doe C.C. had severe pain for the next couple of days and could barely move but was too afraid to call the office, court documents say. She later experienced severe cramping and heavy bleeding, so her fiance took her to the Utah Valley Hospital emergency room.
A nurse told Jane Doe C.C. she needed to perform an internal ultrasound to see if she was losing the baby. “As soon as she said Jane Doe C.C. needed to change and have something inserted into her vagina, she began shaking and crying,” according to court documents.
When Jane Doe C.C. told the nurse what happened at Broadbent’s office, court documents say the nurse began apologizing profusely and said she was most likely losing the baby.
The nurse verified the loss and allegedly told the plaintiff it would be best not to go back to Broadbent because “she had seen him do things like this before.”
“Before leaving, Jane Doe C.C. stepped to the bathroom, and as she sat there, it hit her that what Broadbent had done was equivalent to an abortion,” court documents say, adding that all she could do was mourn and think about the rebuking Broadbent had given her and her fiance in his office.
Jane Doe C.C. found out she was pregnant again shortly after getting married and refused to go back to Broadbent, court documents say. She was terrified of doctors from then on and cannot go to an OB-GYN without having her husband in the room to keep her calm.
“Even with the trauma she felt, it was not until the news about Broadbent’s history of abusing patients came out that she realized that much of what she experienced in Broadbent’s office was not an overly aggressive doctor performing a medical exam, but unlawful actions Broadbent performed for no other reason than his own sexual gratification,” court documents say.
Jane Doe S.B.
Jane Doe S.B. delivered her son at Timpanogos Hospital in 2007 which operates under MountainStar. Court documents say Broadbent placed his whole hand roughly into her vagina immediately after the delivery and claimed he needed to make sure all of the placenta came out.
“When Jane Doe told him how much pain he was causing her, Broadbent chuckled,” court documents say.
After delivering her daughter on March 22, 2010, at Utah Valley Hospital, according to court documents Broadbent again aggressively shoved his whole hand in Jane Doe S.B. to “make sure no placenta was left behind.”
“This time was so painful that Jane Doe S.B. screamed out, but Broadbent did nothing to alleviate the pain,” court documents say. “Instead, he just looked at her and smiled while she cried, telling her to look as he moved her stomach from inside.”
After a miscarriage scare with her next child, court documents say Jane Doe S.B. finally switched to another OB-GYN.
Broadbent had a profile on Intermountain’s website in January 2019 which is now removed. His affiliations were Orem Community Hospital and Utah Valley Hospital according to the 2019 Intermountain profile obtained through an internet archive.
Sorenson said Broadbent was on MountainStar’s website when the original complaint was filed on Feb. 15. He is not on the website anymore.
Broadbent has an active physician & surgeon license with the Utah Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing and does not have any disciplinary actions accessible online. Utah Code 63G-4-106 and 107 says administrative disciplinary actions that started more than 10 years ago and certain actions over five years old are not accessible online.
