Hoag Hospital officers ought to have been conscious that Dr. William Moore Thompson IV — a pioneering infectious-disease skilled accused of sexually abusing sufferers — was committing sexual misconduct of their amenities, attorneys for the accusers allege in a submitting meant to consolidate quite a few civil lawsuits in opposition to the physician.
Greater than 160 people have filed 21 separate civil lawsuits in Orange County Superior Courtroom in opposition to Dr. Thompson, 57, who made his title caring for males dwelling with HIV and AIDS earlier than getting accused of sexually assault sufferers below the guise of medical checkups.
Sufferers allege that Thompson carried out aggressive prostate exams with out gloves, fondled them whereas commenting on the looks of their genitalia, subjected them to sexual innuendo and advances and at instances confirmed his personal erect penis throughout exams. Together with the civil lawsuits, Thompson can be going through felony sexual assault costs, for which he has pleaded not responsible. He misplaced his medical license, state information present.
Attorneys representing Thompson within the civil lawsuits have declined to touch upon the allegations.
The felony case and preliminary civil lawsuits centered totally on Thompson’s alleged conduct along with his sufferers. However, because the court docket has moved to consolidate the lawsuits right into a single grasp grievance, or case, attorneys for the accusers have taken elevated purpose at Hoag Hospital, the place Thompson had entry to sufferers.
Thompson had workers privileges at Hoag amenities from 2007 till late 2023, in response to court docket filings, when he was arrested on suspicion of sexually abusing his sufferers.
“Hoag is committed to providing world-class care defined by respect, integrity, compassion, and excellence for all patients,” Hoag officers wrote in an announcement in response to questions by the Southern California Information Group in regards to the new allegations contained within the grasp grievance.
“Hoag condemns the conduct alleged against Dr. William Thompson and recognizes the courage it takes for his former patients to come forward,” it stated. “Dr. Thompson had clinical privileges at Hoag Hospital, which were summarily suspended by its medical staff after his arrest, and he operated a private medical practice that was not located at a Hoag facility.”
Hoag officers beforehand famous that Thompson was a non-public physician, not an worker of the hospital, and stated they’d not obtained any complaints about him whereas he had the medical privileges.
However the consolidated grasp grievance — filed by attorneys representing the accusers in late June — alleges that Thompson’s “sexual misconduct with not only patients, but Hoag employees, staff and/or agents was so blatant and overt that it is simply inconceivable that Hoag was not aware of the outrageous antics taking place within its own facility.”
That conduct, the lawsuit alleges, contains Thompson having sexual activity with a number of Hoag nurses and “housekeeping” staff at Hoag Memorial Hospital in Newport Seaside, together with in workers locker rooms and loos. The lawsuit additionally alleges that Thompson “engaged in sexual talk and innuendo” with Hoag staff. The grasp grievance contains alleged textual content messages by which Thompson seems to put in writing, in specific phrases, that he had intercourse with nurses and a “housekeeping boy” within the locker room.
“I would describe it as a frat house environment,” stated Morgan Stewart — an legal professional with Manly, Stewart & Finaldi, a high-profile, Irvine-based regulation agency specializing in sexual-abuse instances. “He essentially treated the hospital as his own private sexual playground, and he was allowed to do it.”
Allegations involving Thompson have been made with the Newport Seaside Police Division and the California Medical Board greater than a yr earlier than his arrest, the grasp grievance says, and the lawsuit alleges that males reported Thompson’s conduct to different Hoag physicians.
“The guy was a loose cannon,” Stewart added. “And if you didn’t see that, I don’t know what you were looking at.”
Beforehand, the allegations in opposition to Thompson from greater than 100 of the accusers weren’t straight linked to Hoag, attorneys for the hospital argued. A choose agreed, report present, however left the door open for the accusers’ attorneys to amend their allegations to doubtlessly tie them to the hospital.
A jury trial has not but been scheduled for both the civil instances or the felony case in opposition to Thompson.
