WA patients sue OB-GYN alleging medical and sexual abuse

A Richland OB-GYN has been accused of medically and sexually abusing patients for years, with a state investigation and a flood of lawsuits outlining conduct ranging from invasive touching to performing major surgeries without consent.

At least 17 women have sued Dr. Mark Mulholland in King County Superior Court since August, detailing alleged instances of unprofessional conduct, verbal abuse and pelvic exams that were not medically necessary, sometimes painful and performed without gloves. The lawsuits also name Mulholland’s former employer, Providence Health & Services, headquartered in Renton, asserting that patient complaints were disregarded.

An additional 31 patients have filed lawsuits in King County Superior Court with similar allegations against Mulholland — but that solely name Providence and its Kadlec obstetrics and gynecology clinic, where he worked, as defendants.

The lawsuits come amid an investigation by the Washington Medical Commission that so far has resulted in the panel imposing restrictions on Mulholland’s medical license. Mulholland still has an active physician and surgeon license in Washington, but, per the commission, is not allowed to work with female patients while the state investigation continues.

Mulholland has not been criminally charged. Police in Richland said Thursday they are investigating.

Mulholland’s license, which he’s held for 26 years, comes up for renewal in March. It’s not clear if he will seek to renew it.

Attorneys for Mulholland did not respond to requests for comment, but have denied allegations in court documents, rejecting any implications of negligence, liability, proximate cause.”

Providence is accused in the lawsuits of corporate negligence, and violating state discrimination and consumer protection laws. The 40 filings, with some filed by more than one patient, include plaintiff allegations from 2016 to 2025.

Emily Volland, director of communication for Providence’s Southeast Washington area, said she could not comment on ongoing litigation or the state investigation.

“We take our patient’s safety very seriously and are fully cooperating with the state in this matter,” Volland wrote in a statement.

The patients with medical malpractice claims are represented by Elizabeth Hanley, an attorney with Schroeter Goldmark & Bender in Seattle, and Tamara Holder, an attorney with Chicago-based Tamara Holder Law firm. In all, their teams have spoken with about 200 patients who say they were harmed by Mulholland, according to Hanley and Holder.

“I hope that we can resolve this case in a way that provides a meaningful outcome for the women who have been abused,” said Holder, who went to high school in Kennewick.

Range of complaints

Patient complaints about Mulholland date back more than 20 years, but it wasn’t until the state medical board brought disciplinary charges in April that a fuller scope of the accusations against the doctor emerged.

The Tri-City Herald and other local media covered the board’s actions, leading other patients to reach out to attorneys to inquire about possible legal claims, Holder said.

In one of the lawsuits, filed Aug. 25 by Hanley’s and Holder’s team, a patient identified as “Jane Doe 104” said Mulholland gave a “rough and aggressive” pelvic exam in 2023 that led her to scream out in pain. She told a supervisor at Kadlec’s Associated Physicians for Women clinic, the lawsuit says. The supervisor said they would look into it and call her back, but she was never contacted, the lawsuit says.

A few weeks later, the patient went to Richland police, but the department declined to further investigate. According to the case report, part of which is included in the Aug. 25 lawsuit, there was not enough evidence of a crime as the alleged misconduct “occurred during a medical examination,” an officer wrote.

Richland police Cmdr. Damon Jansen noted in an email to The Seattle Times that while law enforcement officers can investigate alleged incidents that occur during medical exams, “it is not something that happens with great frequency … due to a myriad of reasons.”

Jansen declined to elaborate on what those reasons might include.

In another lawsuit, which includes a claim of medical battery among other violations, Jane Doe 109 alleges that in 2023, she thought she would be undergoing a labiaplasty, but Mulholland ended up performing a much more major surgery — one that removed both her fallopian tubes, which left her unable to conceive. She did not consent to that procedure, the lawsuit says.

Jane Doe 110, who was 15 during her first pregnancy and when she became Mulholland’s patient, alleges he did an invasive examination without gloves. She had received hardly any gynecological care before meeting Mulholland in 2016.

It wasn’t until 2024, when she became pregnant again and started seeing a different provider for prenatal care, that she began questioning Mulholland’s behavior.

Her new provider expressed concern after the patient described his actions.

She also reported Mulholland to Richland police, the lawsuit says.

Jansen said police have not questioned Mulholland, but the department is investigating multiple allegations against him.

State inquiry

Since the Washington Medical Commission made its findings against Mulholland in April, the board has received at least 26 similar complaints about him, said Kyle Karinen, the commission’s executive director.

“That’s fairly unusual for us,” Karinen said. “I’ve worked here for a number of years and I can’t remember quite that number of complaints flowing in” after initial disciplinary charges were filed.

“That’s incredibly concerning,” he added.

The medical commission — run by 21 governor-appointed members — is housed within the state Department of Health and tasked with licensing and regulating physicians, physician assistants and certified anesthesiology assistants.

The commission’s April charges referenced reports from three patients who saw Mulholland between 2022 and 2024, during which he allegedly asked questions that made them uncomfortable and inappropriately touched them.

The commission ordered restrictions on Mulholland’s license in September.

In December, the medical commission updated its charges with accusations from six more patients alleging misconduct between 2017 and 2024. The additional patients described appointments where Mulholland allegedly instructed them to use sex toys, told them to call his personal cellphone, body-shamed them and made jokes about their vaginas, the charges say. The commission added sexual misconduct to its list of alleged violations.

The state group is reviewing four other accusations related to Mulholland, with several more “authorized for investigation” after those, Karinen said.

Mulholland has the opportunity to defend himself at an administrative hearing, where he can testify in front of a commission panel and state investigators will present evidence, Karinen said. After that, commission members will vote on what to do with Mulholland’s license.

A hearing has not yet been scheduled.

“The commission takes these cases incredibly seriously,” Karinen said. “These are a priority … and we devote an immense amount of resources into investigating these cases.”

‘Institutional failure’

In addition to bringing claims against Mulholland, Holder said the lawsuits are about “institutional failure” at Providence Kadlec.

According to the lawsuits, patients complained about him to the clinic’s staff, supervisors and its patient relations department, but felt their concerns were dismissed or ignored.

“One of the most shocking details is that after the Washington Medical Commission’s filing on April 29, (Providence) continued to allow him to work unchaperoned and without notifying patients,” Holder said.

Volland, of Providence, said Mulholland is no longer employed by Kadlec, but declined to answer questions about when he stopped practicing there.

Providence has locations in Alaska, Montana, Oregon, California and Washington.

The other lawsuits that reference Mulholland but do not name him as a defendant also include allegations of sexual abuse during medical appointments. But their claims are against Providence, Kadlec Regional Medical Center and the Associated Physicians for Women clinic, which the lawsuits argue “should have known that Dr. Mulholland was sexually abusing patients.”

Mallory Allen, an attorney representing the roughly 30 other patient plaintiffs, said her firm, Pfau Cochran Vertetis Amala in Seattle, decided against naming Mulholland as a defendant because they believe civil litigation should focus on institutions that may have been negligent. Allen said her clients’ hope is that Mulholland faces separate criminal consequences, as well as repercussions from the state medical board.

Those lawsuits cite years of complaints from patients and staff about Mulholland to clinic supervisors.

“They either received the complaints and didn’t do anything with (them), or they failed to set up a system which ensured that things were adequately escalated up the chain — both of which are unacceptable for patients,” Allen said.

In cases like these, Hanley, of Schroeter Goldmark & Bender, said there may be an “instinct by people to point the finger at one person.”

“But I also think there needs to be more than lip service by corporate medicine as to what it means to treat women,” she said.

When there are “this many complaints over decades,” Providence has an obligation to investigate those and take care of them,” Hanley said.

Because there are separate filings against Mulholland, there will likely be multiple civil trials. The first is scheduled for August, though the date could change as the cases progress.