46th civil suit filed against physician

By Christine Clarridge
Seattle Times staff reporter

Charles Momah in 1993 photo

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The lawsuit, filed against Charles Momah earlier this month in King County Superior Court, is the 46th civil suit brought against the Federal Way physician by former patients claiming sexual misconduct and medical malpractice.

Attorney Harish Bharti, who represents most of the women seeking damages from Momah and Highline Community Hospital, where Momah practiced, said Momah often targeted women who could not defend themselves. Bharti said his clients told him that Momah told the women that he was a doctor, that they were nobodies, and that no one would believe them.

Momah could not be reached for comment yesterday but previously has denied all allegations of wrongdoing.

Federal Way police investigated the allegations and have forwarded the case to King County prosecutors, but no charges have been filed.

"It's a high priority for us, and we have two deputy prosecutors working on it," said the prosecutors' spokesman Dan Donohoe. "But we have not made a decision yet."

It took prosecutors nine months, Donohoe said, to review a case against Mercer Island eye doctor Richard Toby Sutcliffe before he was charged in May with eight counts of taking indecent liberties, one count of attempted indecent liberties and one count of fourth-degree assault.

Momah's medical license was suspended last year in September after a patient accused him of raping her during an exam. Since then, dozens of women have lodged complaints with police and state licensing authorities, according to court documents.

Allegations made in the lawsuits against Momah, 57, include charges that he performed unnecessary hysterectomies on several young women, performed excessive pelvic exams, made inappropriate sexual comments, and bullied and threatened women into returning to his practice.

Momah also is accused in court documents of encouraging addiction and dependency in his patients by overprescribing narcotics and by encouraging them to "work off" a part of their bills in his office.

In the most recent lawsuit, Momah is accused of performing an invasive operation on a then-20-year-old King County woman and later insisting that she come into his office twice a week for a full pelvic exam.The state's Medical Quality Assurance Commission, which monitors medical conduct, already has suspended Momah's license and charged him with lying on an application to renew his credentials by omitting disciplinary action against him in New York state.
 
An office inspection by the commission revealed Momah had no staff members trained to clean and sterilize instruments; no backup or on-call coverage; and no hospital-admitting privileges, according to the panel's four-page statement of charges.

A date has not yet been set for a hearing in which Momah is to appear before the panel on 18 other charges of medical misconduct.

Christine Clarridge: 206-464-8983 or cclarridge@seattletimes.com