PROVO — Attorneys in a court hearing Thursday did not argue whether allegations of sexual assault by Dr. David Broadbent have merit, but whether the lawsuit was filed correctly.
A legal complaint referencing the stories of 50 different women filed Feb. 15 in 4th District Court accuses Broadbent, a Provo OB-GYN, of unnecessarily and inappropriately touching women during pelvic or breast exams. It was initially filed with four unnamed women as plaintiffs, but soon an amended complaint was filed with stories from many more women claiming Broadbent had abused them.
In the civil complaint, Broadbent is also accused of giving unnecessary exams, sometimes when a patient had said that they did not want or need them, for his own sexual pleasure. In some of these instances, which span about 40 years, the complaint states that the patient's husband or a nurse was in the room, but in others the doctor and patient were alone.