25 more women sign on to sex abuse lawsuit against ex-doctor
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Associated Press
EDITOR’S NOTE: The final paragraph of this story contains graphic sexual content.
PORTLAND, Oregon (AP) — Twenty-five more women have joined four former patients in an amended civil lawsuit alleging sexual abuse by former suburban Portland physician David B. Farley and negligence by his health clinic.
The plaintiffs who joined the lawsuit Monday now live around the world, from Asia to Colorado, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.
Together, the women seek $290 million in damages — $181 million for non-economic and $109 million for economic costs, saying while in his care, Farley performed unnecessary pelvic exams and engaged in sexual battery.
In October, the Oregon Medical Board stripped Farley of his state medical license for dishonorable and unprofessional conduct and gross or repeated negligence. He remains under criminal investigation by the West Linn police. Most of the plaintiffs have made statements to police, their lawyers said.
Farley moved to Idaho after leaving the West Linn Family Health Center and sending a retirement letter to patients in August. He did not mention he was under board investigation at the time.
Karen O’Kasey, Farley’s lawyer, has not responded to phone and email messages from the newspaper, but in court last week urged a judge to put the civil suit on hold as Farley faces the criminal investigation.
O’Kasey argued that postponing the civil suit would protect Farley’s Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in the police investigation. One of the patients’ lawyers, Thomas D’Amore, said Farley is trying to halt discovery evidence in the civil case “to conceal his wrongdoing.”
Multnomah County Circuit Judge Melvin Oden-Orr said he was leaning against delaying the civil case, but wanted to review the matter further before issuing a formal decision.
The new 74-page civil complaint describes alleged abuse involving patients as young as 5, additional accounts of patient exams that Farley conducted in a bedroom at his home and repeated allegations that he insisted on breaking women’s hymens before marriage, claiming it would make sex “more pleasurable.”