Victims' stories - Women tell of abuse by doctor

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byline: C.G. Wallace   09/10/96

REXBURG _ After years of silence, the women abused by Dr. LaVar Withers finally had their day in court.
A dozen victims, many of whom had come to court just to watch, seized their chance to take the stand and tell their story.
As the plea agreement was being settled, special prosecutor Dan Hawkley circulated a sign-up sheet through the crowded courtroom, seeking volunteers to testify in the hurried-up sentencing hearing.
Most were not regular patients of the Rexburg doctor. In emergencies, they went to his office seeking medical attention, but instead, they found themselves groped and humiliated. They took turns describing how someone they were supposed to trust took advantage of them.
The earliest account of abuse recounted Monday dates back to the winter of 1965.
Carol Hannah said she went to the doctor for a bad cold. Once he was alone with her, the doctor fondled her breasts and ran his hand up her leg to her crotch, she testified. When she went to the police, she said, she was told that because of other stressful factors in her life, she was not coherent.
They kinda laughed at me," she said.After 30 years, what Hannah wanted most was an apology.
I would like LaVar Withers to get up and say he's sorry for what he did."

Sherry Fullmer, of Rexburg, saw the doctor 10 years ago when she was hospitalized for pneumonia. She was breast-feeding her infant when Withers came in and stood at the foot of the hospital bed, she said.
Fullmer said she became nervous at the sight of the doctor. I had heard rumors of your reputation of being a boob doctor," she said, directing her comment at a stone-faced Withers.
She then told the court how Withers approached her and stuck his hand down the front of her hospital gown. When he did this he told her there was enough milk in her breasts for two babies, she said.

Neil Rasmussen, whose daughter was named as the victim in the original felony charge against Withers, took the stand briefly, saying Your honor, my daughter was molested by Dr. Withers," before the defense objected to third-party testimony.
Laverne Rasmussen took the stand because she had witnessed the doctor fondle her 13-year-old daughter's breasts while he was supposed to be treating her for abdominal pains. Withers asked the teen-age girl if she had ever had breast cancer, Rasmussen said.

Sandy Brinton was a teen-ager when she went to see Withers for a leg injury she sustained during high school drill team practice.
We are placing the blame where it belongs, not on our heads anymore," said Brinton.
She said she was confused by the doctor's actions when he penetrated her vagina with his finger.
This man has stolen the innocence away from so many of us."
She said she had no idea why a doctor would do such a thing.
All I know is that I felt dirty and humiliated, so much so that I never told anyone until almost 20 years later," she testified, her voice shaking.
Tee Andrew, of Menan, went to see the doctor for migraine headache medication in early 1995. Instead, she said the doctor fondled her breasts under her sweatshirt.
Andrew said she was stunned by what happened.
In my mind I was trying to deal with the reality of what had just happened," said Andrew. Then she went to the medical board and the police. I also felt very fervently in my heart that I was not his first victim," she said.
Now Andrew says she cannot be alone in a room with a doctor, and has been to only one doctor since. During that visit, she urged a nurse to stay in the room with her. She received an answering machine message from Withers about his conduct, which he described on the tape as a misunderstanding," Andrew said.
Beverly Rietz, of Rexburg, recounted how a severe upper respiratory problem in 1993 kept her from making the trip to her usual doctor in Idaho Falls and landed her in Withers' examination room. The doctor put his hands under her shirt and fondled her breasts, she said.
I was so shocked, I can't tell you. And I thought `How could he?' and I used the word ``pervert,'' `do this to me,'" Rietz testified.
In January 1993, Marlene Shirley was called to the emergency room after her teen-age daughter injured her knee skiing. A nurse took her to the room her daughter was in and opened the door. Shirley testified she saw her child's breasts being fondled.
Then I saw the look of horror on my daughter's face," she said. The nurse quickly pulled the door closed and refused to let Shirley in to see the girl, she testified. Afterward, Shirley, who is married to an FBI agent, was determined to file charges against the doctor, but she was intimidated by a prominent citizen of Rexburg, whom she did not name, and by the community in general, she said.
My daughter was in a lose/lose situation," Shirley said. She saw that both going public and remaining silent would hurt the girl.
Her answer was to remain silent for two years until she read a newspaper article on a young college student who had filed a lawsuit against Withers.
I had to testify to what I saw Dr. Withers do to my daughter, no matter what the consequences," she said. She said she has had to live with the pain of seeing her child being abused and doing nothing.
Seven years ago, Elizabeth Stephenson, of Rexburg, was new to town and her regular doctor was not available to treat a throat problem. Withers placed a stethoscope on her breast, fondling and massaging her breasts, she said. The fondling continued when he listened to her lungs.
When she went home, a neighbor asked her if she had the breast exam that goes along with a visit from Withers. She told me that it was common knowledge in the community," she testified.
Later, when her 5-year-old daughter became ill, she returned to Withers, thinking a small child would be safe. She testified that she saw the doctor hold the girl between his legs, pressing her to his groin and rubbing her body.
She asked the judge to punish Withers to the full extent of the law.
Part of our hurt has come from people not believing us," she said, and asked for public acknowledgment of what had happened.
In addition, two teen-age girls took turns testifying about the fondling they endured.
One 17-year-old St. Anthony girl told how she was groped when she was 14 years old during a doctor's visit for a throat problem. She was confused by what happened and waited until that night to tell her mother about it.
When my mother got home I asked her if he had the right to do that," she said.
A Rexburg teen-ager said the same thing happened to her when she was 15 years old and seeking help for an ear infection. I was dumbstruck, I couldn't find the words to tell him `No,'" she said.
After an objection from the defense was overruled, the prosecution called its last witness. Deanna Richardson, who now lives in a homeless shelter in Chicago. She said she was raped by the doctor during a gynecological exam in 1980. Afterward he kissed me on the cheek and told me I was beautiful," she said.