NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) – Women thought he was a doctor who was going to treat their infertility issues so they could have children.

However, a NewsChannel 5 investigation revealed that he was not a doctor — in fact, he was not licensed to practice medicine.

But the Tennessee Department of Health decided not to take any enforcement action against the self-proclaimed doctor, saying they didn’t have enough evidence that what he did was illegal.

Now, former patients like Lauren Miller are confused and angry.

When Miller tried to get pregnant last year, she went on three separate dates with Farere Dyer.

“When he walked into the room, he said, ‘Hey, I’m Dr. Dyer,’ and then sat down in one of those little chairs,” Miller said.

And she wasn’t the only one.

When we met with former patients of the now-closed Reproductive Health Center this summer, I asked the room full of women, “OK, first question. By show of hands, how many of you were Farere Dyer patients?”

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The hands then went up.

Bethann Daugherty was one of the women at that meeting.

“He introduced himself as Dr. Dyer and everyone referred to him as Dr. Dyer in the clinic,” Daugherty said.

Dyer had worked at the Center for Reproductive Health for four years.

But after the Nashville fertility clinic abruptly closed last April, our investigation first revealed that Dyer was not a doctor or other licensed medical professional.

“I really felt betrayed,” Miller said, recalling how he felt after seeing our initial report.

She said she immediately filed a complaint with the Tennessee Department of Health, as did many of Dyer’s other patients.

“Has anyone from the Department of Health contacted you? Did they call you to ask about what Farere Dyer did to you (after you filed the complaint)?” I asked Miller.

“No,” she told us.

However, six months later, the Department of Health just sent a form letter to the women who filed complaints, saying that its investigation found that “there was insufficient evidence to conclude that Farere Dyer practiced medicine in Tennessee without a license “.

The Tennessee Department of Health further explained in that letter that it had decided to “close (the investigation) without further action” against Dyer.

“I didn’t understand how that was possible,” Miller said.

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Patients like Miller are in disbelief at the Tennessee Department of Health’s discovery because, according to the Department of Health’s online license search portal, Farere Dyer does not have and never has had a Tennessee medical license.

And according to the patients’ own medical records, he was their “doctor.”

“To me, it seems pretty black and white. You (Dyer) treated us, at least me specifically. You (Dyer) treated me. So how can you (the Department of Health) say that you (the Department of Health) didn’t find that he was treating patients without a license?” Miller asked.

But the Tennessee Department of Health defended its decision by citing Tennessee Medical Board policy that allows physicians with Tennessee medical licenses to delegate certain services to employees who are not licensed physicians.

That policy also specified that those delegated tasks must be “routine technical services,” things like “taking vital signs, histories, assisting with minor procedures, and answering patient calls.”

“When you get us in a room and go over our results with us and say, ‘OK, this is what’s going on here, and this is how I’m going to help you treat it’ (as Miller suggested Dyer did) that’s a level completely different from practice for me,” Miller said.

Dyer also performed intrauterine insemination on women, as well as even more complex procedures, according to other patients’ medical records,

Earlier, we asked Sarah Davis, another former patient of Dyer’s, about her experience.

“How many IUIs did you have there?”

“Two,” she replied.

“And who executed them?” we asked.

“They were both Drs. Dyer,” Davis told us.

Another former patient, Mary Schacher, described another experience that included her falling asleep.

“Dr. Dyer put me to sleep for my first IVF egg removal, so it’s like invasive and something else in itself, and putting in catheters and putting someone in.”

As we reported, the Davidson County District Attorney’s office is considering criminal charges against Dyer for his actions, but sources tell us the reason charges were never filed was because the Tennessee Department of Health told District Attorney Glenn Funk to drop the case.

“At what point will Dyer be held accountable for what he did? Do you know the role of knowingly treating these patients without a license? Where is that responsibility?” asked Miller.

Miller added that the Tennessee Department’s decision in the case sets a “very bad precedent” and wondered what would stop someone else now from claiming to be a doctor, as Dyer did.

Bryan Staples / WTVF

“He feels like he got rid of Scot,” Miller said.

The Tennessee Department of Health declined our request for an interview, but in its letter to patients, it said Dyer’s actions were not his fault, but rather the fault of his boss, Dr. Jaime Vasquez, the medical director of the fertility clinic who delegated. Dyer’s duties.

The department said its investigation into Dr. Vasquez is continuing.

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