Nearly 120 women have filed lawsuits against former Tri-Cities OB-GYN Dr. Mark Mulholland, alleging that he sexually abused patients while treating them under the guise of legitimate medical care. The sheer number of plaintiffs has turned the case into one of the most significant medical abuse claims to surface in the region, and attorneys say it reaches well beyond a single physician.
Sabrina Delgado, one of the attorneys representing the women, said the litigation is ultimately about the institutions that allowed Mulholland to keep working. She framed the case as one against the hospital and health system that, she argued, gave him access to scores of patients even as concerns mounted, describing the matter as a broader, systemic failure rather than the misconduct of one man alone.
According to the lawsuits, the hospital that employed Mulholland and its parent company, Providence, knew of troubling complaints about him as far back as 2001 but failed to take action that would have protected patients. Instead of intervening, the suits allege, those around him rationalized, normalized and minimized his conduct, with the attitude that this was simply how Dr. Mulholland practiced.
The complaints describe specific encounters that patients found deeply alarming. In one account from 2017, a patient said Mulholland examined her without gloves, restrained her from getting off the exam table, grabbed her thigh and told her to relax. Other allegations include exams performed in 2023 with so much force that a patient reported bleeding for days, and a further claim that, in January of that year, he performed a sexual act during an examination.
Delgado said the allegations are especially troubling in the Tri-Cities, where many patients had few alternatives for care, and where some did not speak English. According to the attorney, the investigation found that Mulholland would regularly hold those circumstances against such patients, deepening the sense of vulnerability among those who say they were harmed.
State authorities have begun to respond. The Washington Medical Commission told FOX 13 that it has taken action, noting that a hearing on Mulholland's license is pending in January and that he has been restricted from seeing female patients since September of last year. He is currently not practicing. The complaints, Delgado said, had also been filed with the Department of Health.
The hospital said it takes patient safety very seriously and is fully cooperating with the state, adding that Mulholland is no longer employed there and is not practicing at its clinic. For many of the women, the attorneys say, the lasting impact extends beyond the alleged abuse itself: their trust in the medical system has been so shaken that some are now avoiding care entirely or delaying it far longer than they should.