Five additional lawsuits have been filed against Providence Health & Services, Kadlec Regional Medical Center, and Kadlec Clinic, Associated Physicians for Women, accusing the organizations of failing to protect patients from alleged sexual abuse by Dr. Mark Mulholland.
According to attorneys with Pfau Cochran Vertetis Amala (PCVA) PLLC, the alleged abuse took place during routine OBGYN visits, prenatal and postnatal care, and surgical procedures tied to pregnancy loss. Several patients have also lodged formal complaints with the Washington State Department of Health (DOH), seeking to have Mulholland’s medical license revoked.
Attorney Mallory Allen, a partner at PCVA representing the plaintiffs, said it appears Mulholland “was serially abusing his patients” and that Kadlec “knew about it for years.” She added that based on the number of women who have come forward in the past week alone, the situation “could be one of the biggest known cases of sexual abuse in a medical setting in Washington State history.” Allen also noted that accounts from patients and former staff suggest Kadlec was aware of Mulholland’s alleged conduct as far back as 2005, yet “turned a blind eye” instead of taking action. She encouraged any additional survivors to come forward and “seek the justice they deserve.”
The legal filings include seven lawsuits and multiple DOH complaints, with incidents allegedly spanning nearly two decades. In one 2005 complaint, a former employee who was also a patient reported sexually inappropriate remarks by Mulholland to a Kadlec office manager, who allegedly dismissed the behavior as “just Mulholland being Mulholland.”
A 2017 case described Mulholland allegedly performing a vaginal exam without gloves, restraining the patient, and making inappropriate contact. Two separate 2020 reports involved accusations of him questioning a 16-year-old about her sex life and physically blocking another patient from leaving an exam room until she threatened to call 911.
Another account from June 2023 alleged that a patient was left in pain and bleeding for days after an invasive exam, during which Mulholland allegedly made sexually inappropriate comments.
Plaintiffs claim that repeated staff and patient concerns were “dismissed” by the medical institutions. Findings from the Washington State Medical Commission reportedly align with those claims, concluding that the concerns were not properly addressed.
