Alex Matthew Woolner, a former Kaiser Permanente nurse, pled guilty to multiple criminal charges including invasion of privacy and sexual abuse. He was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for sexually abusing five young women between the ages of 18 and 20 who were patients of Woolner last year.
Kafoury and Mcdougal represents eight of Woolner’s victims, including the five women he pled guilty to assaulting. Now that the criminal case is closed, the files are available and we can begin to build a case against Kaiser as we learn what they knew, when, and if they took any steps following the first police report. From what we have learned so far, following the initial police report, Kaiser put Woolner on leave pending an internal investigation. When the investigation showed no proof of misconduct, he was allowed to return to work, where he abused more women.
We are pleased that the criminal process is over, but we regret that the sentence was so lenient and inadequate in proportion to the damage he has caused these women. According to the DA, the charges available were not a full picture of the damage he had done to these women, particularly because the sexual contact was only considered a misdemeanor under Oregon law.
In our experience with other sexual abuse cases involving large institutions, when we dig into the records, we find there are often many more victims that are afraid to come forward. It is important for any victims to come forward in order to hold large medical providers accountable to help prevent the next predator for targeting innocent victims. We also believe there may be additional victims and witnesses to Woolner’s abuse, and we encourage them to contact us.
Update:
More women come forward against Woolner.
Coverage in Oregon Live – December 20, 2017