(NewsNation) — Three women who are part of an ongoing civil lawsuit against a former Oregon doctor are speaking about what they say is a culture within the Mormon church that permits abusers to go unpunished.
Nicole Snow, Katie Medley and Lisa Pratt all allege that they were sexually abused by David Farley, who primarily worked at a family health clinic in West Linn, Oregon, for decades. They filed a civil lawsuit in 2020 against Farley and the medical institutions he worked at, claiming he conducted unnecessary pelvic exams, fondled their breasts and did check-ups in his bedroom at home, the Oregonian reported.
In an interview Tuesday on “NewsNation’s “CUOMO,” the trio said Farley used his position within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, formerly known as the Mormon church, to take advantage of his patients.
“He was a very seemingly trustworthy safe person within the Mormon community and he fed off of the Mormon community to recruit women to come be his patients where he could then continue to abuse,” Medley said. “It was awful, and none of us have been taken seriously.”
Around the same time the lawsuit was filed, Farley was also the subject of complaints filed with the Oregon Medical Board. He admitted to the board that he photographed the breasts and genitals of several underage patients, according to the West Linn Tidings newspaper.
The board revoked his medical license after Farley waived his right to a hearing. He did not admit or deny any wrondgoing, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported.
Despite his admission to the medical board, a grand jury declined to criminally indict Farley in September 2022, according to the Oregonian. Oregon Public Broadcasting reported that the medical board investigator did not testify before the grand jury, and it’s unclear how much evidence about the nude photographs was presented.
Snow says the abuse against her began at the age of 15. She described Farley as a man who would frequently tell families within the church that they could trust him with their medical care.
“As a teenager all the way 15 through 18, I suffered abuse from him. I had a feeling, my body felt like it was wrong, but I believed that he was doing what needed to be done” during medical examinations, Snow said.
When she went to church leaders, she says they told her Farley would go through a repentance process before lawyers would contact her.
“To this day, they have not taken away his membership or punished him whatsoever,” Snow said.
Three years after being filed, the civil lawsuit against Farley is still moving through the courts. A status hearing is scheduled for December, and an attorney representing one of the alleged victims told the West Linn Tidings it could be 2025 before a trial begins.
Pratt says despite promises from the church, Farley has gone unpunished.
“He is still free and allowed to participate in the church wherever it is that he lives … and there’s just all these very trusting people who now have the opportunity to be hurt by him, and it’s awful and it’s heartbreaking,” Pratt said. “We’re taught that we should be like Christ and do the right thing, and it really, really is hurtful when the people at the top don’t practice what they preach.”
