A woman alleged in a lawsuit that an Irvine doctor smiled and laughed as he opened a paper vest she was wearing to expose and fondle her breasts.
Another woman said in the lawsuit that the same doctor stared at her exposed chest and touched her breasts, saying he was “palpating.” [her] liver” and noting that he woke up during an exam.
These and several other women have complained over the years about Dr. John Hoefs’ physical exams — on online forums, in his offices and to the Medical Board of California — but he was allowed to continue working until his recent arrest, court records and police reports reviewed by The Times indicate.
Fifteen women filed a civil lawsuit this week alleging that Hoefs, 79, forced them to expose their breasts under the guise of receiving legitimate medical treatment and repeatedly groped them while examining them for liver-related problems. The abuse, which the women's attorneys allege dated back to 2006, continued until Hoefs was arrested this year, according to the suit.
“Many of the patients who were sexually abused by Hoefs were fighting for their lives against aggressive forms of liver cancer and hepatitis at the time they sought treatment…” the suit states. “When, in return, Hoefs brutally violated that trust and confidentiality to sexually abuse these extremely vulnerable patients.”
The lawsuit, filed Monday, also names Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian and the University of California Regents system, with which Hoefs was affiliated during the time the abuse allegedly occurred.
Attorneys representing the women wrote in the lawsuit that UCI Medical Center and Hoag “concealed numerous complaints filed by female patients about Hoefs’ sexual abuse” and failed to prevent the sexual abuse of “dozens of vulnerable female patients.”
“Hoag and the Regents knew and certainly should have known that Hoefs posed a risk of sexual abuse to patients … as early as 2017, when complaints of such abuse were filed with the Medical Board of California, as well as numerous complaints posted on multiple public online forums,” the lawsuit states.
Representatives for Hoag and UCI Medical Center could not be reached for comment Friday. Hoag wrote in a statement to the Orange County Register that Hoefs was not his employee but rather rented office space in a building owned by Hoag.
“Upon learning of his arrest, Hoag's medical staff immediately suspended his hospital privileges and Hoag suspended access to his rented space,” Hoag told the newspaper.
This year, Orange County prosecutors charged Hoefs with 17 felony counts of sexual assault by fraud and three felony counts of sexual battery. He pleaded not guilty to all charges and was released on $500,000 bail, according to Orange County Superior Court records.
Hoefs' attorney, Kate Corrigan, declined to comment on the allegations against her client when contacted Friday, but said she is receiving information from prosecutors and is reviewing the details of the case.
In a March conversation with Irvine Police Detective Rebecca Steen, Hoefs denied touching patients' breasts during exams.
“Hoefs told me he was very shocked by the allegations,” Steen wrote in a police report. “He also expressed frustration with the situation and said he had never hurt anyone.”
Following Hoefs’ arrest earlier this year, the Medical Board of California suspended his medical license and prohibited him from having any contact with current, former or potential patients, according to a suspension order. However, the medical board did allow Hoefs to continue working as chief medical officer for Hepatiq Inc., a medical diagnostic software corporation.
A woman who was in her 40s when she sought treatment from Hoefs in 2016 and 2017 said the doctor required her to remove all clothing from the waist up during exams and fondled her breasts without wearing gloves, according to the civil lawsuit. She became suspicious after this happened at several appointments and reported the conduct to the state medical board in October 2017.
It's unclear what action, if any, the medical board took at the time. A representative for the board did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Another woman had shown Hoefs a photo of a bruise she had in an attempt to get his medical opinion during a visit to his office. He responded, according to the suit, that he “didn’t have time to look at pictures unless they were of her in a bikini.”
Irvine police began investigating the doctor in October 2022 after receiving a report from a woman alleging that Hoefs touched her breasts at nearly every appointment she had with him over the course of two years, according to a police report obtained by The Times.
While listening to her heart and lungs, Hoefs allegedly “removed her medical gown leaving her breasts completely exposed for the remainder of the exam,” the police report states.
“She thought it was strange the first time he did it, but after the second time, she thought it must be part of the exam,” Officer Monica Williams wrote in the report.
However, during a date in October 2022, the woman told officers she felt uncomfortable when Hoefs asked her to come closer to him while they discussed her test results and asked her about her life. He also talked about sex in schools and transgender issues, according to the report.
She later posted on a Facebook group for people with liver problems asking if it was normal for her breasts to be touched during an exam. Members of the group said it was not normal. The woman also told Hoag Hospital about the doctor's behavior, according to the police report.
Online reviews, detailed in the police report, showed that several women had made similar complaints about Hoefs. One woman wrote on Yelp that the doctor “grabbed my breasts during an exam and told me I wasn't going to live long enough to raise my 2-year-old son, my [s]“I’m already 28!”
