Hoag Hospital officials should have been aware that Dr. William Moore Thompson IV — a pioneering infectious-disease expert accused of sexually abusing patients — was committing sexual misconduct in their facilities, attorneys for the accusers allege in a filing meant to consolidate numerous civil lawsuits against the doctor.
More than 160 individuals have filed 21 separate civil lawsuits in Orange County Superior Court against Dr. Thompson, 57, who made his name caring for men living with HIV and AIDS before getting accused of sexually assault patients under the guise of medical checkups.
Patients allege that Thompson performed aggressive prostate exams without gloves, fondled them while commenting on the appearance of their genitalia, subjected them to sexual innuendo and advances and at times showed his own erect penis during exams. Along with the civil lawsuits, Thompson is also facing criminal sexual assault charges, for which he has pleaded not guilty. He lost his medical license, state records show.
Attorneys representing Thompson in the civil lawsuits have declined to comment on the allegations.
The criminal case and initial civil lawsuits focused primarily on Thompson’s alleged conduct with his patients. But, as the court has moved to consolidate the lawsuits into a single master complaint, or case, attorneys for the accusers have taken increased aim at Hoag Hospital, where Thompson had access to patients.
Thompson had staff privileges at Hoag facilities from 2007 until late 2023, according to court filings, when he was arrested on suspicion of sexually abusing his patients.
“Hoag is committed to providing world-class care defined by respect, integrity, compassion, and excellence for all patients,” Hoag officials wrote in a statement in response to questions by the Southern California News Group about the new allegations contained in the master complaint.
“Hoag condemns the conduct alleged against Dr. William Thompson and recognizes the courage it takes for his former patients to come forward,” it said. “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 officials previously noted that Thompson was a private doctor, not an employee of the hospital, and said they had not received any complaints about him while he had the clinical privileges.
But the consolidated master complaint — 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, includes Thompson having sexual intercourse with multiple Hoag nurses and “housekeeping” employees at Hoag Memorial Hospital in Newport Beach, including in staff locker rooms and bathrooms. The lawsuit also alleges that Thompson “engaged in sexual talk and innuendo” with Hoag employees. The master complaint includes alleged text messages in which Thompson appears to write, in explicit terms, that he had sex with nurses and a “housekeeping boy” in the locker room.
“I would describe it as a frat house environment,” said Morgan Stewart — an attorney with Manly, Stewart & Finaldi, a high-profile, Irvine-based law firm specializing in sexual-abuse cases. “He essentially treated the hospital as his own private sexual playground, and he was allowed to do it.”
Allegations involving Thompson were made with the Newport Beach Police Department and the California Medical Board more than a year before his arrest, the master complaint says, and the lawsuit alleges that men reported Thompson’s conduct to other 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.”
Previously, the allegations against Thompson from more than 100 of the accusers were not directly linked to Hoag, attorneys for the hospital argued. A judge agreed, record show, but left the door open for the accusers’ attorneys to amend their allegations to potentially tie them to the hospital.
A jury trial has not yet been scheduled for either the civil cases or the criminal case against Thompson.