Fertility specialist gets jail time

PROVO — A Springville fertility specialist sentenced to 360 days in jail and two years of probation for sexually touching female patients may have his probationary license reviewed again.

A special meeting has already been planned by the Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing's Board of Osteopathic Licensure to discuss Larry Andrew, said board Chairman William David Voss.

"Anything decided by the board before the sentencing is preliminary in its status," Voss, a doctor of osteopathy, told the Deseret Morning News. "These decisions we make are re-evaluated on a close, periodic basis and so there can be revisions every two to four months."

The meeting follows Tuesday's sentencing, in which Andrew, a doctor of osteopathy, was sentenced to nearly a year in jail for eight class A misdemeanors of sexual battery.

He was also given a condition and warning by 4th District Court Judge Samuel McVey that he not practice fertility procedures during his two-year probation.

In August, Andrew pleaded no contest to massaging the genitals of female patients who came in for medical help with infertility. The next month, the Board of Osteopathic Licensure put Andrew's license on probation for five years.

Andrew agreed to take medical ethics courses, participate in therapy, meet with a supervisor regularly and have chaperones present during exams, according to DOPL documents.

But those conditions are not enough, one victim told the judge Tuesday.

The sobbing woman explained to McVey that there was a chaperone in the room when she was abused, but the young assistant didn't know what was happening.

"There's no excuse. There's no reason he should be able to get away with that behavior," the woman said. "We believe that doctors are in a position of trust, only doing what is best for us medically, and he totally took advantage of that trust. (I want) to make sure every future patient knows that Dr. Andrew has committed sex crimes against his patients and employees. That's the only way to protect people."

Andrew's victims felt strongly enough about the plea deal and the license not being revoked that several hired attorneys to argue that the plea hearing should be reopened so they could request a harsher deal.

However, McVey was quite clear that he wouldn't overstep the prosecutor's role and said he had already read all the victim's statements and knew their concerns.