A Newport Beach doctor specializing in infectious diseases arrested late last year after he was accused of abusing nine patients may have abused dozens more men who were in his care, according to a lawsuit filed last week in Orange County.
Dr. William Thompson IV — a 56-year-old doctor who lived in Huntington Beach and had access to patients at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian for the last decade while also operating a private practice in Newport Beach — was charged in September 2023 with more than a dozen felony counts, including sexual penetration and sexual battery by fraud and forcible oral copulation.
Now, at least 73 patients are accusing Thompson of abusing them, too.
In a 730-page lawsuit filed Jan. 17, the alleged victims said that beginning in 2011 and continuing through 2023, Thompson used his authority as a doctor along with manipulative behavior to repeatedly subject them to unwanted sexual acts.
The alleged victims said Thompson’s actions occurred at Hoag Hospital, at his private medical offices and at his home, where he would instruct patients to visit him for invasive tests that they later found were unnecessary, according to the complaint.
The tests he performed on his patients “served no legitimate medical purpose, and were committed for no other reason than to satisfy Thompson’s own prurient sexual desires,” attorneys for the alleged victims wrote in the complaint.
“Thompson took advantage of his patients’ ignorance of the proper administration of genital, anal, and rectal examinations, so that (he) could force Plaintiffs to be fondled, stroked, and penetrated for (his) prurient sexual interests and sexual gratification.”
Thompson could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday. An attorney representing Thompson in his criminal trial did not return a request seeking comment.
Morgan Stewart, a partner at Manly, Stewart & Finaldi in Irvine, which is representing the 73 claimants, said Thursday that numerous…
Read the full article here
