NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Women thought he was a doctor who was going to treat their infertility issues to have children.
However, a NewsChannel 5 investigation revealed that he wasn't a doctor — in fact, he didn't have a license to practice medicine.
But the Tennessee Department of Health has decided to not take any sort of enforcement action against that man who proclaimed himself as a doctor, saying they did not have sufficient evidence that what he did was illegal.
Now, former patients like Lauren Miller are confused and angry.
When Miller was trying to get pregnant last year, she had three separate appointments with Farere Dyer.
"When he came in the room, he was like, 'Hey, I’m Dr. Dyer,' and then he sat down on one of those little rolley chairs," Miller said.
And she wasn't the only one.
When we met this summer with former patients of the now-closed Center for Reproductive Health, we asked the room full of women: "OK, first question. With a show of hands, how many of you were patients of Farere Dyer?"
Hands then shot 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 this past April, our investigation first revealed that Dyer was not a doctor or any other sort of licensed medical professional.
"I really felt like I had been betrayed," Miller said, remembering how she 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.
"Did anyone from the Health Department ever contact you? Call you to ask you about what Farere Dyer did to you (after you filed your complaint)?" we asked Miller.
"No," she told us.
Yet, six months later, the Health Department just sent a form letter to women who filed complaints, stating its investigation found "there was not sufficient 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) with no further action" against Dyer.
"I didn’t understand how that was even possible," Miller said.
Patients like Miller can't believe the Tennessee Department of Health's finding, because according to the Health Department's own online license search portal, Farere Dyer does not have and has never had a Tennessee medical license.
And according to patients' own medical records, he was their "doctor."
"For me, it seems pretty black and white. You (Dyer) were treating us, at least me specifically. You (Dyer) were treating me. So how can you (the Health Department) say that you (the Health Department) didn’t find that he was treating patients without a license?" Miller wondered.
But the Tennessee Department of Health defended its decision by citing the Tennessee Medical Board's policy that allows physicians with a Tennessee medical license to delegate certain services to employees who are not licensed doctors.
That policy also stated those delegated tasks must be "routine, technical services," things like "taking vital signs, histories, assisting in minor procedures and answering patient calls."
"When you’re taking us into a room and you’re going over our results with us and saying, 'OK, this is what’s happening here, and this is how I’m going to help you treat this,' (as Miller suggested that Dyer did) that’s a whole different level of practice to me," Miller said.
Dyer also performed intrauterine inseminations 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 performed them?" we asked.
"Both of them were Dr. Dyer," Davis told us.
Another former patient, Mary Schacher, described to us another experience that included putting her to sleep.
"Dr. Dyer 'slept' me for my first IVF egg removal so that’s like invasive and whatnot in its own self, and putting catheters in and putting someone under."
As we have reported, the Davidson County District Attorney's Office was considering criminal charges against Dyer for his actions, but sources tell us the reason charges were never filed was that the Tennessee Department of Health told DA Glenn Funk to drop the case.
"At what point is Dyer going to be held responsible for what he did? His role you know of knowingly treating these patients without a license? Where is that responsibility?" Miller asked.
Miller added that the Tennessee Department's decision in this case sets a "very bad precedent," and she wondered what would stop anyone else now from holding themselves out to be a doctor as Dyer did.
"It kind of feels like he just kind of gets off Scot free," 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 the tasks to Dyer.
The department said its investigation into Dr. Vasquez continues.
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