MORRISON—A lawsuit has been filed against a Fulton doctor and his employers for allegedly sexually harassing, abusing, and assaulting a female patient during a medical examination three years ago.
The defendants in the action filed on March 3 in Whiteside County Circuit Court are Dr. Stephen D. Harrison of Fulton, MercyOne, MercyOne Fulton Family Medicine, Mercy Health Network Inc., Trinity; Trinity Health, Trinity Health ACO Inc., and Trinity Health Corporation.
According to the lawsuit, the female patient was at Harrison’s office for a medical appointment on August 4, 2022, when he sexually harassed, abused, and raped her.
The woman also claims in the lawsuit that Harrison “had a history of inappropriate sexual behavior with female patients” and that MercyOne and Trinity knew or should have known about it, which she discovered after her Aug. 4, 2022, office visit.
MercyOne executives declined to comment on the case since the company does not comment on active litigation, MercyOne spokesman Todd Mizener told Shaw Local.
The case includes three counts: battery/lack of informed consent, which names Harrison; negligence – institutional negligence on the part of MercyOne and Trinity; and negligent supervision and retention on the part of MercyOne and Trinity. According to the case, the plaintiff claims to have incurred personal and monetary damages, including pain and suffering and loss of normal life.
Count 1 claims that as a physician, Harrison owed the plaintiff a responsibility not to do inappropriate acts on her, and that he violated that obligation by battering her and failing to get her informed consent when he sexually harassed, assaulted, and abused her on August 4, 2022.
In Count 2, the plaintiff claims that MercyOne and Trinity were responsible for implementing policies and processes, screening physicians, and supervising physicians in order to prevent physician sexual harassment, sexual abuse, sexual assault, and violence.
She claims that prior to August 4, 2022, several female MercyOne and Trinity patients informed the defendants that Harrison had sexually abused and attacked them. She maintains that the reports were investigated, but not thoroughly.
The plaintiff alleges that if the reports had been thoroughly examined, Harrison would have been fired, and police authorities and the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation would have been contacted.
Count 3 claims that MercyOne and Trinity failed to properly supervise Harrison in light of other reports of inappropriate patient examinations, and that they negligently retained him despite knowing or should have known “he had engaged in inappropriate examinations of patients prior to his assault of plaintiff” and “he had been reported as engaging in sexually inappropriate examinations of patients.”
The plaintiff seeks a jury trial and damages in excess of $50,000 on each of the three charges, as well as litigation fees and all other remedy allowable by law.
The defendants have not submitted a response to the lawsuit’s allegations.
A case management conference is scheduled for 9 a.m. June 4 at the Whiteside County Courthouse.
