BILLINGS - In June of 2023, a Missoula-area woman walked into the ER at Community Medical Center to have a persisting bruise on her upper thigh checked.
That day, she walked out forever changed.
“I felt sick to my stomach,” she said.
She’s named as a plaintiff in a civil lawsuit filed in Missoula County District Court as Jane Doe 1 and spoke to MTN News explicitly about the details of her alleged sexual assault under the care of Dr. Tyler Hurst.
She’s just one of many women who has reported their assault by Hurst to authorities, where both a criminal case and at least two civil cases with numerous victims have been filed.
“You shut down, you don’t know what to do,” she said.
Hurst’s alleged victims have grown to 15 women, all coming forward with allegations of sexual assault or rape at the hands of the contracted Community Medical Center doctor between 2017 and 2023.
“I feel like he knew who to choose, which victims to choose,” said Doe.
According to prosecutors, some of the victims Dr. Hurst treated were given sedatives prior to the sex assaults.
In Doe’s case, she believes he targeted her for a specific reason that’s not known to her.
The first four charges against Dr. Hurst came in April of 2024 and he has since pleaded not guilty to the eight current charges filed against him.
In addition to a massive criminal case, Hurst is also implicated in a civil suit, where Billings attorney John Heenan believes more victims are out there.
“This happened in Missoula but sadly it is not an isolated incident,” said Heenan. “How was he given access to assault so many people for so much time?”
That’s certainly a question Heenan hopes to answer as the case plays out.
Doe says, Hurst acted odd that day she came to Community Medical Hospital to have her injury looked at. She says odd because he came in and out of her exam room numerous times and without a nurse with him.
“Every time he would come in, he would touch my thigh and put his hand on my private area,” she said.
She says, the last time he came into the room to examine he wasn't wearing gloves and used his finger to assault. She says, he became aroused and then left the room.
“You know it’s wrong, but you’re scared,” said Doe.
Doe says, months after the assault, she read about the sexual assault allegations regarding Dr. Hurst in area news outlets and came forward to police.
In addition, Does says, when she called Community Medical Center to complain about the assault, her concern was dismissed by the hospital. She says she never received a follow-up call from an administrator or hospital investigator.
“The previous women had reported it even before I went into that hospital,” said Doe.
And as it turns out, other women revealed in court documents they’d already complained about Dr. Hurst in the months and days leading up to Doe’s June 2023 assault.
Court documents also revealed the attacks by Hurst happened sometimes twice in one day, to different women.
“And for them to know that he’d already been accused of these things and to even allow him to be in the same room alone with somebody, it's unacceptable,” said Doe.
Considering the timeframe, Doe believes there are more victims out there.
Sadly, Montana has seen cases of sexual abuse by those in a position of power too many times before and Heenan has prosecuted many.
One of the most notorious involves longtime Miles City school athletic trainer James Jensen. In 2018 32 men came forward with stories of sexual abuse as teens under the guise of a program to improve athletic ability.
While the men settled for $9 million in that case, Heenan believes Jensen had hundreds of victims.
“When its someone in a position of trust, the victim can be discredited not believed, they can question themselves,” said Heenan.
Hurst was due in court last week, but his hearing was pushed back to Nov. 21, 2024 with his defense attorney filing a motion to move court proceedings due to the amount of discovery and documents related to the case.
He faces a sentence of up to life in prison if he's convicted.
