Utah Valley Magazine apologizes for honoring sexual abuse-accused gynecologist David Broadbent

When Stephanie Mateer saw that her former gynecologist was listed in Utah Valley Magazine as one of the best fertility doctors in the area, it reopened old wounds.

In 2021, she spoke out on a podcast, accusing gynecologist David Broadbent of sexually abusing her during an examination more than a decade earlier. Since her public confession, more than 120 women have alleged similar misconduct in lawsuits and in reports to Provo police. They claim Broadbent inappropriately touched their breasts, vaginas and rectums during examinations — often without warning or explanation and in ways that hurt them and made them feel violated.

Utah Valley Magazine’s decision Adding Broadbent to the “Best Of” issue was confusing and painful, Mateer said. The magazine asked readers to vote for their favorites in a range of categories, from medical care to shopping, and published Broadbent’s selection as the third-best provider in the fertility category.

Utah Valley Magazine’s social media pages have been flooded over the past three days with comments from Utahns asking why the publication honored someone so many women have accused of sexual harassment.

“Shame on you for including David Broadbent among the winners,” wrote one woman. “This list has no value as long as he is on it,” wrote another. “It shows where your morals lie.”

Mateer said she has lost sleep and has struggled to concentrate since reading his name on the list, and wondered why he was included there – particularly since he had told licensees that he would close his practice in 2022 to focus on his defense against the allegations Mateer and the other women have made against him.

Did his former patients band together to vote for him, she wondered? That possibility felt like a “slap in the face.” Or was it an action by his friends? That forced her to recall a time when, she said, a person who knew Broadbent contacted her on the phone and called her a liar.

“There is no situation in which this is not painful,” she said on Tuesday.

In response, the magazine removed Broadbent’s name from its online list on Tuesday and apologized. It plans to publish an apology in its next print issue. Founding editor Jeanette Bennett said in a statement to The Salt Lake Tribune that the magazine’s decision had led to a “difficult lesson.”

Bennett said her staff’s goal is to have “valid results,” regardless of who touts them or pressures them to be included on “best of” lists. The only reason they have adjusted results in the past was when it appeared the votes came from unethical voting, she said, such as “Russian bots sending out thousands of votes in the middle of the night.”

Broadbent received a “significant number of votes,” Bennett said, suggesting that supporters may have included his name in the election “as some sort of PR campaign.”

After receiving enough votes to make it into the top three, according to Bennett, magazine staff checked to make sure Broadbent’s license had not been revoked by the state. (Broadbent entered into an agreement with the Division of Professional Licensing in 2022 agreeing not to practice while the Provo Police Department was investigating. That agreement is considered non-disciplinary and is still in effect.)

“We have chosen not to change the votes and let the results stand,” Bennett said. “We have now heard from many women involved in the lawsuit. Their stories are heartbreaking. We are especially sorry that our best-of results have added to their grief. This is a case where we should have set the data aside and ignored the voices of our readers.”

Bennett said this negative feedback prompted staff to introduce new steps in how the contest results are processed going forward. They will now allow the editorial team to override votes, she said, and remove any people and companies deemed unsuitable for the list “on legal, moral and ethical grounds.”

“We care about our community and all of its residents. We care about women and believe in their stories,” she said. “We understand that adding this subjective element to our election process provides a necessary safety net so that we can truly highlight and promote the best of Utah Valley.”

Most of the comments about Broadbent on Utah Valley Magazine’s Instagram page were posted in the past 72 hours, but one woman questioned the magazine’s decision 15 weeks ago when the nominees were announced and reader voting opened.

“David Broadbent should be removed from your fertility category,” she wrote. “He has been accused by over 100 women of sexual abuse and using his position as a doctor to take advantage of them. How could he be included on a list of Utah’s ‘best’?”

The magazine never responded to this comment.

Mateer said the magazine’s decision to consider Broadbent’s licensing status in adding him to the list raises another issue, in her view: that Utah licensing authorities did not revoke his license. Instead, he was allowed to enter into a “nondisciplinary” agreement in which he voluntarily agreed not to treat any more patients for the time being.

“The fact that Utah did not revoke his license after hundreds of women accused him of sexual assault is appalling,” she said.

Although Broadbent has been accused in civil lawsuits and in at least 49 police reports, he has not been charged with a crime. Utah County prosecutors have spent the past 18 months deciding whether to file charges against him, and Utah County Assistant Prosecutor Tim Taylor said last month that they were working to obtain additional funding to hire a medical expert to provide an opinion before making a decision.

Under the agreement with licensing boards, Broadbent is barred from practicing medicine until the criminal investigation into him is resolved. It is not clear whether he works in any other capacity in the fertility field, and his attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mateer is one of 94 women who filed a civil lawsuit against Broadbent and two of the hospitals where he delivered some of their babies. But in September 2022, a judge dismissed their lawsuit when he ruled it fell under medical malpractice law rather than a civil sexual assault lawsuit, meaning the filing deadlines were shorter. The women have appealed the ruling to the Utah Supreme Court and have been waiting seven months for its decision.

Brooke Heath, another plaintiff in the case, said Tuesday it has been a frustrating journey for those who claim Broadbent harmed them: Their lawsuit was dismissed. Other women who went to Provo police to report Broadbent said they faced delays, language problems and insensitive interrogation techniques. And after more than a year, prosecutors still haven’t decided whether they will even charge Broadbent.

Although Heath said it was confusing and felt like a “slap in the face” to see Broadbent’s name on Utah Valley Magazine’s “Best Of” list, she still appreciated that the magazine acted quickly and removed his name from the online list after women reported abuse.

“I’m really impressed by the strong women we have in our case,” she said, “who are brave enough to voice their concerns, even despite all the times we’ve been shut down. They’re saying, ‘Enough is enough.'”