Warning: This story contains details on sexual abuse allegations, including charges of crimes involving children.

In 2016, an Oregon teenager went to see her longtime family doctor, David Farley, for a physical before her missionary trip. Like the doctor, the teenager was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He allegedly convinced her that a penetrative pelvic exam was necessary at such an appointment — a line he frequently used even when evaluating elementary school aged patients for a sports physical.

Eight years later, the teenager — now in her 20s — saw on social media that Farley had been accused of sexually abusing his patients by masking his actions as legitimate medical care. She is now one of more than 170 of Farley’s former patients suing him and the hospitals and clinic he worked at.

Her story, detailed in the lawsuit, is echoed in the stories of other girls who grew up in the conservative LDS church. These patients say in the filing that they received little if any sexual education and did not know what to expect at a gynecologist appointment, or what kind of conduct to watch out for. Many met Farley through the Wilsonville ward of the LDS Church, where he was a stake high councilor, or were introduced to him by other friends at the church. As not only a respected leader within the church but a doctor with a degree from Harvard University, Farley seemed inherently trustworthy.

Though widespread allegations of sexual abuse against Farley first came to light five years ago, the church has not had to answer for the part it allegedly played — until now.

Legacy Meridian Park Hospital, one of the medical institutions where Farley practiced and allegedly abused patients, is attempting to subpoena records from the LDS church. Those records could shed light on what church leaders knew, or should have known, about the alleged abuse.

In response, the church has filed a motion for a protective order, hoping to prevent any disclosure of documents. Along with Farley, Legacy is one of the defendants in a nearly billion dollar lawsuit. Providence Willamette Falls Medical Center, where Farley also practiced, and the community clinic he opened three decades ago are named in the suit as well.

All parties involved in the suit besides Farley have joined Legacy in asking the court to produce records from the church. The parties will make their arguments before a Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge at a hearing July 31.

Attorneys for Legacy and the church did not respond to requests for comment. Farley’s lawyer declined to comment.

Farley’s history

Until his medical license was revoked in 2020 for photographing the breasts and genitals of underage children and other sexual misconduct, Farley practiced family health, obstetrics and gynecology in Clackamas County for more than 30 years. He opened the West Linn Family Health Center in the early 1990s. Farley was also a longtime leader in the church, serving as both a high councilor for the Lake Oswego stake — a collection of several wards within the area — and a member of the Bishopric, a three-person leadership council for a specific ward.

In addition to his work with the church, he also volunteered as a team doctor for youth and school wrestling teams in the West Linn-Wilsonville area.

Farley abruptly retired from the clinic in 2020 after losing his medical license and moved to Idaho. There he briefly worked as a substitute teacher until locals learned of the allegations against him, according to the Fremont County Joint School District in St. Anthony, Idaho. He now lives in Nephi, Utah.

In Oregon, Farley was the subject of a two-year criminal investigation into his conduct by local police. That investigation, which lasted between 2020 and 2022, led to zero charges for the doctor and was disparaged by Farley’s former patients who said the officers and prosecutors handling the case were “grossly incompetent,” “dismissive” and “belittling.” The patients felt the criminal investigation was so poor they asked the Oregon Attorney General’s office to review the case.

After standing firmly behind his office’s management of the case for two years, Clackamas County District Attorney John Wentworth last year joined the call for the state Department of Justice to take it on.

The West Linn Police Department also admitted it “should have done better” in the investigation. The attorney general’s office has been reviewing the case for the past two and a half years but has not stated publicly whether it will open a criminal investigation.

Legacy seeks LDS church records

In its court motion to compel the church to produce documents related to Farley, Legacy asserts that recent deposition testimony from the doctor’s former patients indicates the church was at least partly aware of the abuse.

“Multiple Plaintiffs have testified in depositions that the Church potentially knew, or should have known, of Farley’s wrongdoing and may share culpability in the abuse they suffered,” Legacy’s attorneys wrote in the filing.

In an effort to aid its own defense in the suit, Legacy initially served a subpoena on the church for files related to Farley in 2024.

The church turned over “limited documents, including various news articles about Farley,” but withheld most of the documents Legacy sought, according to the hospital.

After recent depositions revealed more about what the church could have known, Legacy served the church with an amended subpoena in 2025. That subpoena specifically sought records related to Farley’s membership, discipline and church privileges as well as medical services he may have provided to members of the church, his volunteer work with kids’ camps and activities, and complaints made about him by other church members.

The church withheld most of the requested documents. In a response to Legacy filed with the court, attorneys for the church argued that Oregon courts do not have authority over documents stored in Utah, where the church is headquartered.

Attorneys for the church also posit that turning over the requested materials would violate clergy privilege, which is codified in Oregon law.

Courtney Thom, one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs, said without the church’s records it’s impossible to tell just how many of its leaders knew of Farley’s abuse.

“However, Farley appears to have deliberately placed himself in roles that gave him direct and trusted access to minors,” Thom said in a written statement to OPB. “Every institution that enabled Farley’s abuse — whether through silence, negligence, or misplaced trust — must be held accountable for failing to protect victims.”

According to court filings, the church allegedly granted Farley special access to girls at the church, like having him volunteer as a camp doctor for girls’ camps through the church.

Accountability for the church?

While the Mormon church purportedly played a significant role in the doctor’s abuse — serving as a recruiting ground where Farley would convince girls and their parents that they should come see him at the clinic — it has faced little official scrutiny for any part it may have played.

During the West Linn Police Department’s investigation of Farley, officers reportedly only reached out to the church once. Records from the police department revealed West Linn detective Tony Christensen emailed a leader with the church in the spring of 2021.

A Utah-based attorney for the church wrote back to the detective: “In answer to your question, my understanding from my client, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is that the Church has no awareness of any allegation that David Brian Farley ever engaged in sexual misconduct on Church property or in connection with any Church-sponsored activity.”

One month later, the attorney wrote to the detective again saying: “The below statement was true at the time I made it — as we really never had heard any allegation of misconduct having occurred on Church property.”

The police records indicate Christensen never responded to this email or followed up with the church.

Allegations of the Mormon church shielding sexual abuse predators within their ranks are not new.

In 2023, the Associated Press reported how a risk management advisor for the church pressured a bishop not to testify in a criminal proceeding about an Idaho man who previously confessed to the bishop that he had molested his daughter. Earlier this year the Guardian reported on multiple lawsuits alleging alleging the church attempted to protect leaders of a San Diego ward who were accused of sexual abuse by several people.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/07/31/west-linn-doctor-sex-abuse-case-subpoena-fight-mormon-church/