Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash

CONTENT WARNING:

This story has depictions of sexual abuse, harassment, bullying, and bias, including first-hand accounts. We urge you not to read or listen to this article if you have any trauma around this topic.

The views expressed below by survivors are the personal accounts of each author, and not of the reporter or Tumbleweird.

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V10i9 Sept Me Too
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Narrated by Melinda Cumming

An estimated 2 out of every 3 survivors of sexual violence never report it. Many fear retaliation or stigma, or believe that seeking help is futile.
(Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network)
The prevalence of false reporting is between 2% and 8%; and some of those that are labeled ‘false’ simply lack evidence, and are never proven false.
(End Violence Against Women International)
A study of 136 sexual assault cases in Boston found a 5.9% rate of false reports Researchers studied 812 reports of sexual assault from 2000-03 and found a 2.1% rate of false reports.
(National Sexual Violence Resource Center)

It was June when the story came out in the local news about Dr. Mark Mulholland. Mulholland is a physician who has worked at Associated Physicians for Women and Kadlec Regional Medical Center/Providence Health and Services as an OB-GYN. 

Mulholland was first issued his medical credentials in 1999, and has been practicing as an obstetrician gynecologist for over 30 years. 

According to a report from NBC NonStop LOCAL, Mulholland is no longer employed by Kadlec or Providence: 

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.

The State Department of Health lists a pending action against Mulholland (the ‘Respondent’). The Statement of Charges in the Department of Health documents allegations of abuse, unprofessional conduct, unwanted sexual comments, body shaming, and vulgar statements toward patients and staff. Some of these include:

  • During a bedside ultrasound, Respondent pulled a patient's pants down himself without asking for permission and did not drape the patient. 
  • After the examination was complete, Respondent discussed scheduling for a hysterectomy and made comments about Patient B's body unrelated to a legitimate medical purpose, including that he was eager to see the patient's vagina and was looking forward to being reunited with her womb. 
  • During the pelvic examination, Respondent told Patient C that her vagina did not smell bad and obtained a sample. Respondent then commented about Patient C's husband's performance during sexual intercourse unrelated to a legitimate medical purpose when noting that Patient C's vagina was very dry. Respondent also asked about Patient C's masturbation practices in a way that made Patient C uncomfortable and unrelated to a legitimate medical purpose. 
  • Respondent has also made inappropriate comments toward female staff, such as commenting on their weight, asking them to show him their breasts or inquiring about whether they planned to cheat on their husband. 
  • Respondent's behaviors toward patients and staff have often been rationalized, normalized, and minimized, resulting in patient and staff complaints being dismissed and not taken seriously.
The April 29 filing can be read in its entirety here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/13WhATHfpC8LjWnBwiUPjeDH2rWtmENw5
The other references used in this article are listed here: https://tumbleweird.org/me-too-references

The lawsuits

The law firm Pfau, Cochran, Vertetis, and Amala (PCVA) has filed multiple lawsuits against Providence Health & Services, Kadlec Regional Medical Center, and Kadlec Clinic: Associated Physicians for Women, alleging that these medical centers did not protect their patients from Mulholland.

“Despite receiving multiple complaints about Dr. Mulholland sexually abusing his patients, these institutions failed to take action and allowed his abuse to continue,” said Mallory Allen, an attorney for the victims and partner at PCVA Law.

On August 12, PCVA published an update as five new sexual abuse lawsuits against Providence and Kaldec were filed on behalf of Mulholland’s former patients.

“It’s becoming clear that Dr. Mulholland was serially abusing his patients — and Kadlec knew about it for years,” said Allen. “Based on the dozens of women we have spoken to in just the last week, this could be one of the biggest known cases of sexual abuse in a medical setting in Washington State history.”

Tumbleweird spoke with PCVA attorney Allen in a telephone interview on August 8 to discuss the Mulholland case. Allen provided us with more details about the status of the lawsuits. 

Allen said their law firm has handled several cases similar to this one: 

[T]hey tend to follow a similar pattern as what we’re seeing here … at this point, [we] have spoken to several dozen women who have reached out to us.
Everyone has their own specific things he said to them, did to them … but lots of the same patterns. So that’s been an eye opening experience, I think, for us to see how similar all these stories are.

Allen said that some of the survivors who have reached out to the law firm can barely get through the recounting of their stories. Others are furious, and some seem relieved to be able to talk about it, she said. “It’s like, ‘Oh, it wasn’t just me,’ because they’ve been kind of gaslighting themselves over the last several years,” Allen explained.

NOTE: PCVA can be contacted via https://pcva.law/contact, at (509) 632-3895, or by emailing info@pcvalaw.com.

The abuses

The lawsuits are focused on Mulholland’s behavior while he was employed with Kadlec/Providence. Allen said victims talked about how Mulholland touched them inappropriately and said sexually explicit things to them. But according to the attorneys, Mulholland also degraded his patients. 

“It sure seems, from what we’ve heard from survivors, that he got a lot of satisfaction from not just assaulting people, but also demeaning them, putting them down, making them feel ashamed and beneath him,” explained Allen. 

Allen said that many of the survivors have recounted “really horrific things” Mulholland would say about their bodies, from inappropriate ‘compliments’ to shaming put-downs. 

Allen said there are accounts of Mulholland “examining a woman’s vagina, telling her that her vagina was beautiful” and saying things like “‘Ooh, looks like the playground is open’.” Allen also said that “while examining women, with his hands on their body, or even inside of their vaginas or rectum, [Mulholland would] ask questions about sexual habits, about positions they like in sex, asking about their masturbation habits, groping people’s hips and thighs and buttocks, pulling them down into the stirrup.”

The most disturbing stories have now become a familiar pattern, Allen emphasized to us, saying that many of the survivors who have come forward had suffered similar abuses at the hands of Dr. Mulholland. 

[W]omen have shared that they told him they did not want the exam to continue. When he was doing a pelvic exam, he physically pinned them to the table. I have heard that from multiple women. 
He was doing exams, vaginal exams, without gloves on. There’s no medical basis to be doing a vaginal exam without gloves on. We’ve had several women tell us that he attempted to stimulate them, touching their clitoris. One woman asked a question about her G-spot, and he [] put his fingers up inside her and started rubbing her.

The disregard

Allen said that PCVA’s litigation is in the discovery phase, learning the answers to the questions of when Kadlec and Providence knew of Mulholland’s conduct, and what was done about it. Allen said they would find out: “What did Kadlec know? What did Providence know? When did they know it? What did they ignore?” She said there would be documentation of complaints, and they would be able to see if Kadlec/Providence looked into the issues or chose to disregard them. 

Some of the women who came forward said that during their examinations, no chaperones were in the room. But others have said that there were nurses there while Mulholland abused them, but that they did nothing to intervene. Allen wants to know what kind of training was given to these nurses: 

What’s become very clear, without us even having written discovery in these cases, is [that] those chaperones were not trained as to what they should be looking out for, or were trained but were terrified to do anything or or say anything. A lot of times, when medical institutions are poorly run, there’s a very aggressive hierarchy where nurses and staff and techs are afraid to speak up.

That kind of classic hierarchy, a toxic environment of a doctor having more power and being shielded by the status quo (and their employers) is not new, said Allen. 

This isn’t the first time, sadly, that there has been a doctor, or even specifically a gynecologist, who has taken advantage of his position of power to abuse women. We now know, as a society — and [] these large medical institutions know very well — that this is a risk [] they need to be aware of, to keep their patients safe.

Allen added that the medical systems involved cannot claim ignorance, because there is precedent: 

… Larry Nassar, George Tyndale who was a gynecologist from USC, Robert Schatten who was a gynecologist at Columbia in New York — all of these men are in prison now. So this isn’t a world where … we had no idea that a gynecologist would ever use his position to sexually assault his patients. So the fact that there were complaints made and they were ignored in a world where we know this is a very real and tangible risk is pretty shocking.

Allen said that statistically speaking, since they have spoken to several dozen women, potentially there could be hundreds of victims. “All the studies they’ve done over the years say a very small fraction of survivors of sexual abuse will tell others, will come forward, will pursue litigation,” Allen said.

Right now, three investigations into the allegations against Mulholland are happening concurrently:

  • The Department of Health is investigating the complaints against Mulholland, which could result in a reprimand, or in a license suspension or revocation. 
  • The Medical Commission has issued preliminary charges and begun their investigation.
  • The Richland Police Department is conducting their own investigation.

Tumbleweird submitted a formal records request to the Richland Police Department on August 8. On August 15, we received a notification from the Police Public Records Specialist, which said (in part):

Staff must research, collect, review, and properly redact and/or exempt any protected records prior to release. Due to the volume of public records requests currently being processed and/or the volume of records involved/complexity of this request, records will be provided to you in installments. 

The Records Specialist also informed Tumbleweird that the first installment of records would be received on or before September 26, 2025. We will bring you more coverage as the story develops.

Photo by Stephen Andrews on Unsplash

The testimonies

Dr. Mulholland was an OB-GYN in the Tri-Cities for more than 20 years. (Full disclosure: The author of this story saw him one time when she was a patient of Associated Physicians for Women). 

As local news stories began populating social media, there was a mix of shocked comments, confirmation statements, angry defenders, and women describing their terrible experiences with Mulholland. Some of his former patients reached out to Tumbleweird and asked us to help them tell their stories. We will share excerpts from their testimonies, identifying the authors only by their initials. 

Editor’s note: The views expressed below are the personal accounts of each author. 

“I gave birth to twin boys. We already had two other boys, so shortly after, my husband got a vasectomy. The twins were amazing but we knew they were our last, and after consulting with another doc at APW [Associated Physicians for Women], she referred me to Dr. Mulholland to get my tubes tied. I know vasectomies are effective, but we had decided that four kids was all we could handle and wanted to be extra sure not to have another set of twins! 
I went to the consulting appointment and when he walked in, he said, ‘So what are you here for?’ I said I would like to have my tubes tied. He asked me my reasons and I told him. He responded with: ‘If your husband had a vasectomy, what are you worried about? How many other men are you sleeping with besides your husband?’ I responded that my husband is my only partner and he said, ‘Well then, I’m not sure why you think you need this, unless you are not faithful to your husband.’ I got up and said, ‘Okay, I think I’m going to just go.’ 
It just made me feel like no matter what I said, he was already convinced that I was sleeping around. I cried when I got in the car after because it was embarrassing to be asked that question.”

—MB

“It is sad to realize how someone has harmed you — that it’s not your fault — only after others have had the courage to complain.”

—CA

“I had a horrible experience with Dr. Mulholland about 17 years ago. At 20, I was told I was too young to be having a baby; and after a miscarriage, he insensitively told me it was ‘for the best’. 
There were also a number of direct messages, emails, and Facebook comments from people recounting harmful experiences they had had with Mulholland. One former patient wrote a letter telling Mulholland, “You broke me in ways I can’t even explain.”

—MM

The backlash

Almost immediately after Mulholland’s patients began to come forward publicly, others stepped up to defend him, many by attempting to silence or discredit them.

On social media, comments under news stories about the lawsuits said things like:

“I loved him when I saw him with my pregnancies, always professionally, always had a nurse in the room, no negative comments about me being overweight or any problems I had after having the baby.”
“Best doctor there is.”
“This is BS! Dr. Mullholland is amazing! He performed a surgery on me and was very precessional [sic]. It’s unfortunate that sometimes people say things other people can’t handle or don’t like. Money hungry and ridiculous. Having to post crap on FB to try and build a case since Kadlac dropped all investigations on Dr Mullholland.”
“He’s a great Dr and would still choose him over any other.”

We spoke with local therapist Heidi Nielson (LMFT-A), who shared some insights about the motivations that lead people to come to the defense of perpetrators in cases like this one, sometimes with anger and accusations of the women who bravely come forward. Nielson said that some of those people may be dealing with their own fallout from the reports:

I don’t know how many of the folks that are speaking out in support are people who are [thinking]: “I experienced bad things and I didn’t speak up.” “I’m going to internalize that anger and be defensive.” Or how many of those people are [thinking]: “It just didn’t quite feel okay, but I wasn’t able to really voice that, and I’m upset that somebody else is voicing that.”

Nielson also said that some of the people coming to Mulholland’s defense regarding the many accounts of his body shaming of women for their weight might share his worldview. “How much of this was misogyny, and how much of this was fat phobia?” Nielson said. She added that the tendency to attach a moral judgment to body size could be part of what fuels some of the backlash against survivors who are recounting what was said and done to them.

Nielson suggested that some of those defending Mulholland could possibly be centering their own internalized misogyny. 

In a 2024 study titled ‘Internalized Misogyny: The Patriarchy Inside our Heads’ in the Journal of Integrated Social Sciences, researchers explain:

Internalized sexism, fueled by misogyny, occurs when women adopt learned sexist behaviors towards themselves and other women. It results in perpetuating sexist attitudes among women, reinforcing the male-dominated culture, and sustaining the patriarchal system through the promotion of horizontal oppression against their own gender.
Misogyny achieves this through the imposition of gender roles, the legitimization of male privilege, the justification of gender-based violence, the restriction of women's agency, and the perpetuation of systemic discrimination and inequality. Consequently, misogyny serves to perpetuate the subjugation and oppression of women within society. This results in the reproduction of misogynistic attitudes by women toward other women, reinforcing the central male culture through the horizontal oppression of their own gender.

According to Nielson, women that are being defensive about Mulholland could be thinking,“‘I have to stand by him, and part of that is tearing other people down.’” But Nielson said that the reasons people defend Mulholland and other alleged abusers are multifaceted.

“It is a combination of … who we want to see in power, and who we believe deserves that power,” said Nielson. “And so, when we feel that they are being attacked, we feel attacked.” 

Nielson said that sexual abuse is not usually about sex; mostly, it is about power. “The fact that it is about power is very likely part of what is driving the folks that are adamant at his defense,” Nielson said. “[They think:] ‘He deserves to have that power; people’s perception of him is fueled by something else; and they (the victims) just want to take away his power.’”

The defensiveness

Some of the online discourse discrediting women who have reported their sexual abuse by Mulholland goes beyond just being rude or insensitive. 

A common question that is asked in this and other sexual abuse cases is why women are coming forward now — some of them years after the alleged abuse took place. Looking at the statics, sexual abuse of women is very underreported. 

According to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), only about one third of sexual assaults are ever reported. And in those cases that are reported, 98% of the perpetrators walk free. Meanwhile, the people who have been victimized often must relive their trauma as they are made to recount what happened.

Joel Thorne, a sociologist who specializes in gender and sexuality, and has studied disadvantaged populations and social systems, spoke with Tumbleweird about why women that are coming forward are facing public scrutiny and backlash. “[W]omen are automatically discounted in their opinions because it goes against what people want to believe,” he said. 

Thorne said that Mulholland is a known public figure, and a ‘staple’ of the community, having worked as a doctor here for many years. He said that believing the women coming forward about his abuse would mean that Mulholland’s supporters would have to confront certain things: 

Would you like to admit that the system that supports you is incredibly broken? The people who [are] the strongest supporters of upholding our current system are women who have a vested interest because they feel that they can maintain their power if they protect the people in power.

And for those women who may have genuinely had only positive experiences with Mulholland, defending the doctor could be a way for them to try to distance themselves from his victims. If they were to allow the possibility of this happening to other women, they would be forced to confront the fact that it could have happened to them, too.

That is why, Thorne said, as soon as women started coming forward and sharing their stories and joining the lawsuit, they were positioned as ‘the problem’ by the people defending Mulholland. Maintaining the systems of power, many people believe, will keep them safe. Unfortunately for women, Thorne said, maintaining the status quo puts women at a disadvantage: 

They will get thrown under the bus as soon as they become a ‘problem’. We’ve got women coming forward, and the first thing we have is other people saying, “Why are you accusing this doctor — this person who has dedicated their life to helping people — of being this horrible person? I mean, surely you’re wrong, or you don’t know what you’re talking about, or you just misunderstood what was really going on.”

A large number of the problematic comments about the case on social media from women (as well as from men who are speaking on behalf of their partners/spouses) employ the anecdotal fallacy (also called the ‘appeal to personal experience’). The rhetoric works like this: “Mulholland couldn’t have done anything inappropriate to other women because he didn’t do anything to me/my partner.”

“People are so willing to discount the experience of other people,” said Thorne. When the abuse initially occurred, many women did not feel safe coming forward. “Generally speaking, when women [] come forward, they either have nothing left to lose, or they have a support network in place that can keep them safe while they risk their lives and existence in going after these powerful people,” said Thorne.

It seems that more women are coming forward now because they see that something is being done. A plaintiff in one of the lawsuits put it this way:

“I have so desperately wanted to yell about this situation. It’s haunted me since it happened in 2022. Thank you for shining a light on this.
Hopefully we all get justice.” 

A lifelong resident of Eastern Washington, Dori enjoys the outdoors, her family, and making good trouble. She has worked for many years in broadcasting and reporting and believes in the value of the 4th estate. She is a true community advocate that loves Washington.

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