RICHLAND, Wash. — Sex abuse survivors in Richland are suing Kadlec Clinic over what they called the medical center’s failure to protect patients from the danger of being sexually abused by a doctor with a history of sexual assault complaints.
A pair of lawsuits accuse Providence Health & Services and Kadlec Regional Medical Center of exposing women to risk at the hands of OB-GYN Dr. Mark Mulholland from 2022 to 2024, despite the fact the plaintiffs say he had previously been accused of sexual assault.
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“Despite receiving multiple complaints about Dr. Mulholland sexually abusing his patients, these institutions failed to take action and allowed his abuse to continue,” attorney for the victims Mallory Allen said in a statement on Tuesday.
Kadlec declined to comment on the accusations but did confirm that the clinic no longer employs Mulholland.
The two lawsuits, filed in King County, describe physical sexual assault of two women in 2023. The lawsuits site an allegation of sexual assault by Dr. Mullholand dating to 2017 as evidence the clinic should have known the risk of continuing to employ Mullholand.
“Before and during the time Dr. Mulholland sexually abused Plaintiff, Defendants… knew or should have known that Dr. Mulholland was sexually abusing plaintiffs,” the lawsuit read.
The lawsuits followed allegations of inappropriate behavior by the Washington Medical Commission against Mulholland which were made public in June.
In that case, officials claimed Mulholland made unsolicited sexual comments and inappropriately touched patients without their consent.
After filing the lawsuits on Monday, Allen called on others to come forward if they had been abused by Mulholland.
“These lawsuits… represent the first step towards justice for the survivors of Dr. Mulholland, who were subject to his sexual abuse while he was practicing as an OBGYN for over a decade,” Allen said. “We anticipate that Dr. Mulholland may have abused numerous other patients, and encourage other potential survivors of his abuse to come forward.”