Assault or malpractice?

I read this morning at reference 1 that sexual assault in a medical context in the State of Utah is usually covered by malpractice law, rather than by common law. The effect of which is to make it much harder for a person who has been assaulted (commonly female) to obtain redress from the courts, from the perpetrator (commonly male).

A helpful summary of the relevant law is provided by Epperson & Owens at reference 2. Law which appears to me to be very much directed against vexatious litigants complaining about medical practitioners of one sort or another acting in good faith - say a nurse who tried to stop someone on anti-coagulants bleeding to death in the street.

Which is a real problem, but it does seem that Utah have struck an unusual balance, a balance in the wrong place. But at least in this particular case, the plaintiffs are going to get a hearing in Utah's Supreme Court. Maybe things are on the move.

PS: it may also be that this is not entirely a legal problem. It may be that the state being the headquarters of  the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is another part of the problem. Horse's mouth at reference 3.

References

Reference 1: 94 Women Allege a Utah Doctor Sexually Assaulted Them. Here's Why a Judge Threw Out Their Case - Jessica Miller, The Salt Lake Tribune - 2023

Reference 2: https://www.eolawoffice.com/overview-of-utah-health-care-malpractice-law/. Partners snapped above.

Reference 3: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/?lang=eng.

Reference 4: https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/topic/polygamy. It seems that while polygamy still goes on, it is no longer permitted or blessed by the church, forced to cave in at the end of the nineteenth century when the Feds threatened to confiscate their property. But like so much in this world, a fudge.