Former Provo OB-GYN charged with 2 more counts of object rape

A former Provo OB-GYN already facing more than a dozen felony charges in multiple cases was charged with two more felonies Friday, alleging he sexually abused another patient.

A former Provo OB-GYN already facing more than a dozen felony charges in multiple cases was charged with two more felonies Friday, alleging he sexually abused another patient. (lusia83, Shutterstock)


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KEY TAKEAWAYS
  • David Harrison Broadbent faces more charges accusing him of sexual abuse of patients.
  • The former Provo OB-GYN now faces 17 counts of object rape and two counts of forcible sexual abuse in six cases.
  • Two hundred seventeen women are suing Broadbent in an ongoing civil lawsuit.

PROVO — The number of criminal cases filed against a former Provo OB-GYN accused of sexually abusing patients under the guise of medical exams keeps growing.

On Friday, David Harrison Broadbent, 77, was charged in 4th District Court with two new counts of object rape, a first-degree felony.

In his latest charges, Broadbent is accused of sexually abusing a woman who went to his office for a postpartum examination in May of 2018. During the visit, the woman told investigators Broadbent stared at her genitals "in an unusual way and took a long time" with the examination and also talked about her sex life, according to charging documents.

He later took off his gloves, put his hand underneath her clothing "and said she was a good milk-producer, followed by another inappropriate comment about her breasts, the charges state.

Broadbent now faces a total of 17 counts of object rape, and two counts of forcible sexual abuse in six separate criminal cases.

In 2022, 94 women filed a lawsuit against the doctor, claiming they were sexually assaulted while getting medical care from Broadbent and that he made insensitive, offensive and inappropriate remarks, performed unnecessary intimate exams and used his hands to touch them in sensitive areas for his gratification and when it was not medically necessary.

Broadbent surrendered his license to practice after the lawsuit was filed. However, 4th District Judge Robert C. Lunnen dismissed the lawsuit three months later, stating the allegations should be part of a medical malpractice suit and that he did not have jurisdiction over the issues raised.

The women appealed the decision to the Utah Supreme Court, which overturned Lunnen's decision in August, stating that sexual assault is not a malpractice issue. According to an amended complaint filed in December, 217 women are now suing Broadbent in an ongoing civil lawsuit.

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.

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Pat Reavy interned with KSL NewsRadio in 1989 and has been a full-time journalist for either KSL NewsRadio, Deseret News or KSL.com since 1991. For the past 25 years, he has worked primarily the cops and courts beat.

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