Utah County prosecutors have filed a new criminal charge against OB-GYN David Broadbent, now accusing him of sexually assaulting a patient twice during two separate exams in 2020.
Broadbent was charged last week with first-degree felony object rape. Prosecutors allege in charging documents that during a September 2020 exam, Broadbent inserted a swab into a patient’s vagina for more than a minute, “an amount of time far in excess of what was required” for the endocervical swab procedure. This caused the patient pain, prosecutors say.
If convicted, Broadbent could face a potential prison term of up to life in prison.
This is the second charge filed in connection to this patient. In June, prosecutors charged Broadbent with second-degree felony forcible sexual abuse. Charging documents allege that the patient went to Broadbent in July 2020 regarding a bump in her vaginal area. Broadbent allegedly instructed the patient to undress from the waist down — but when he returned to the exam room after she changed, prosecutors say he lifted up her shirt and bra and touched her breasts. He then grabbed her leg “in what felt like a sexual manner,” prosecutors say, and began a vaginal examination.
The swabbing which led to the new charge took place three months later, according to charging records.
Defense attorney Cara Tangaro said Tuesday that her client “adamantly denies sexually abusing any of his patients.”
She said “the government failed to get the medical records from these visits and failed to investigate in a myriad of other ways,” adding that she believes prosecutors added the new charge without acquiring any additional information.
“We will continue to respond to and vigorously defend these claims in court,” she said in an email.
It is not clear what prompted prosecutors to add the new, more severe charge last week — and a spokesperson for the Utah County attorney’s office did not immediately return a request for comment Tuesday.
The alleged victim in the criminal case is one of more than 100 women who have accused Broadbent in civil lawsuits of inappropriately touching them.
At least 49 women have reported to Provo Police that Broadbent sexually abused them during exams, and prosecutors have been weighing whether to file charges for almost two years. This summer, the county attorney’s office received funding to pay for a nurse practitioner who specializes in sexual assault exams to review the evidence that prosecutors have, and to do research and advise them on what the “standard of care” is for an OB-GYN appointment.
Many of the women who reported to police allege Broadbent inappropriately touched their breasts, vaginas and rectums during exams — often without warning or explanation, and in ways that hurt them and made them feel violated. Other former patients, along with many of the women who went to police, have also sued Broadbent or the hospitals where he worked, with a total of nearly 120 women making sexual assault allegations in civil lawsuits.
Broadbent has agreed to stop practicing medicine while this criminal investigation is ongoing.
The woman whose report led to the criminal charge saw Broadbent in July 2020. A year and a half later, in December 2021, another former patient of Broadbent’s spoke out publicly on the podcast “Mormon Stories,” describing the painful way she said he had examined her years before and how it left her feeling traumatized.
After the podcast aired, women started coming forward publicly in civil lawsuits accusing Broadbent of inappropriate touching.
But in September 2022, a judge dismissed a case filed by 94 women when he ruled that it fell under medical malpractice law instead of a civil sexual assault claim, which meant it had faced — and missed — tighter filing deadlines. The Utah Supreme Court reversed that decision in August and revived the lawsuit, which is pending.
