Richland OB-GYN faces more allegations, including unwanted surgery

A Richland doctor facing charges by the Washington Medical Commission is accused of removing a patient’s fallopian tubes without her consent.

The Washington Medical Commission announced Friday that it had amended a statement of charges against Dr. Mark Mulholland for a second time to add allegations regarding his care of two more patients.

The charges now include incidents with 11 patients Mulholland treated at Associated Physicians for Women — Kadlec Clinic in Richland from September 2017 to late summer 2024. Kadlec says he is not working for its clinic now.

Mulholland’s attorney for Washington Medical Commission charges said Mulholland denied the allegations.

The statement of charges accuses him of violating state codes related to sexual misconduct, patient abuse and unprofessional conduct.

The latest statement of charges by the Washington Medical Commission says that a patient was experiencing pain after undergoing surgery by another doctor in August 2023. That doctor performed a tubal ligation, but at her request did not remove her fallopian tubes.

The woman saw Mulholland in March 2024 for laparoscopic surgery for treatment of pain.

Prior to the surgery she had discussed with Mulholland her desire to keep her fallopian tubes in case she ever wanted to become pregnant again, according to the statement of charges.

However, Mulholland removed her fallopian tubes without her consent, writing in his operative notes that he removed them “as a practice of standard of care,” according to the statement of charges.

During a phone call in June 2024 and then in a post-operative care visit in July 2024, Mulholland acknowledged he had mistakenly removed the patient’s fallopian tubes, according to the statement of charges.

It said that Mulholland told the Washington Medical Commission that he had “simply reverted to his usual standard of practice.”

In the other incident included in the updated statement of charges, Mulholland allegedly talked to a patient about her sexual preferences and asked her why she was not with a man.

The patient was seeking medical care for pelvic pain, and Mulholland suggested that she was not pleasuring herself enough, according to the statement of charges.

While the patient was on the exam table, Mulholland allegedly grabbed her ankle and pulled her to the end of the table instead of instructing her on how to position herself, according to the statement of charges.

The statement also accused Mulholland of stroking her genital area.

The examination that followed was unlike exams she had had from other doctors, according to the statement of charges.

It said Mulholland commented on the size of his fingers and was forceful and aggressive during an internal exam, according to the statement of charges. After the exam she bled for several days and called the clinic out of concern, according to the statement of charges.

The other incidents outlined in the document included some similar concerns, including allegations about how Mulholland performed internal exams and comments or questions about his patients’ or their partners’ sexual activities that seemed to them unrelated to a legitimate medical purpose.

In addition to Washington Medical Commission charges, multiple civil lawsuits have been filed in the last year against Mulholland and/or Kadlec in King County Superior Court.

The Washington Medical Commission and Mulholland have reached an agreement that prohibits him from practicing medicine with any patient who is female, until charges are resolved.

Kadlec said it cannot comment on allegations that are part of an ongoing state Department of Health investigation, other than to say that it takes its patients’ safety seriously and is fully cooperating with the state on the matter.