A growing number of people have come forward to allege they were abused by Washington state pediatrician Michael Wilmington.
Wilmington was found dead, apparently of suicide, in Lewis County in May after being linked to a child-sex-abuse-images and sex-crimes investigation in Vancouver.
Vancouver police at the time alleged that Wilmington had “hosted naked sleepovers with young children” at his La Center home. A warrant for his arrest on a first-degree child-molestation charge had been issued shortly before he died.
Six women have now filed lawsuits against Kaiser Permanente, alleging the healthcare company didn’t do enough to protect them. The latest five were filed Monday.
Wilmington worked at Kaiser Permanente’s Salmon Creek Medical Office.
“We have spoken to over a hundred former patients and concerned parents who shared stories of him abusing them or their loved ones, including multiple patients and parents who made complaints about Dr. Wilmington directly to Kaiser,” Jason Amala, an attorney for the victims, said in a statement.
Three people — Anna May Hartley, Chad Hartley and William Joseph Sneiderwine — have been arrested in connection to the ongoing child-molestation investigation.
The latest lawsuits allege several concerned parents reported incidents to Kaiser over the years. In 2006 , a mother reported Wilmington had pulled down her daughter’s pants without warning to inspect her genitalia during a sports physical, one of the lawsuits alleges.
In 2020, according to the lawsuits, Wilmington told a minor patient, who was a survivor of sexual abuse, that she should shadow him at the clinic and “see other children naked.”
The lawsuits also allege that Wilmington encouraged a minor patient to masturbate and that, when the mother reported the incident, a staffer at Kaiser said, “Yeah, he is like that.”
A spokesperson for Kaiser Permanente said the healthcare company has initiated an internal investigation and encouraged anyone impacted to reach out to local law enforcement.
“We are committed to fully understanding the facts,” the company said in a statement. “Caring for children is among the most profound responsibilities we hold, and it rests on trust.”
The lawsuits were filed in King County by PCVA Law and seek monetary damages.
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