Six women have accused Michael Dick, a Decatur physician, of sexual assault and inappropriate behavior, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday.

Michael Dick, a Decatur physician, has been accused of sexually abusing six women who say they were patients, according to a lawsuit filed May 30, 2018. (Morgan County Sheriff's Office)

The women are former patients of Dick's. They say he groped their breasts, rubbed his erect penis against them and forcibly kissed them, while they were in his office for appointments. Also named in the lawsuit are nurses and office staff for not stopping the doctor's behavior.

Dick has referred all questions to his attorney, who declined to comment.

"This guy has a long history of doing these things to people, but nobody would report him to the police for a variety of reasons, most being they felt nobody would believe them," said Eric Artrip, the attorney representing the women. The plaintiffs are all identified by pseudonyms in the complaint, he said, to protect their privacy.

Decatur police arrested Dick in January 2018 on two counts of misdemeanor harassment after two women came forward with allegations. He is currently out on an $800 bond and continues to practice in Decatur at Alabama Medicine & Rheumatology Inc.

The Alabama State Board of Medical Examiners "is actively engaged in monitoring his situation," said Wilson Hunter, general counsel for the board, which issues and regulates medical licenses.

Artrip said the women's stories demonstrate a similar pattern of behavior by Dick.

"The first (office) visit with Michael Dick, nothing really inappropriate happens," he said. "The second, maybe there's a little bit of inappropriate touching, but he is a doctor and if he pokes and prods in places that seem inappropriate, it doesn't seem completely out of bounds.

"Then it's the third visit where things go off the rails. That's when his actions turn from odd or uncomfortable to sexual assault."

'He kissed me on the mouth'

Cheree Jordan, 35, began seeing Dick in October 2017 for problems with arthritis and pain in her knee. She didn't know, she said, that another woman had filed a police report about Dick's behavior in December.

"I had thought he was different than other doctors because he was a little touchy-feely," said Jordan, who agreed to be identified by name. "Always putting his hands on my leg or touching my face with his hand. Something was just different, off."

Her third visit was in January 2018. He asked her to sit on the exam table, she said, and lay on her side for an injection in her hip.

Without asking, she said, he pulled her pants and underwear down past her buttocks, leaving her exposed. He then brought the nurse in, who assisted him with injections in her hip.

Jordan said she was crying after the injections because they had been painful.

"When he helped me up, he put his hands on my face and told me 'Everything's going to be OK, you'll be just fine,'" she said.

"After that, he kissed me on the mouth."

Jordan said she was in shock. "I didn't know what to think, what to feel," she said.

"I looked to the nurse for help. She acted like it was nothing. She didn't say anything (and) left the room again."

After Jordan got off the exam table, Dick reached for her pants and underwear, which she'd already pulled up, and pulled them up higher, she said.

"I didn't know what to do. I just wanted out of there," she said. "I was really shaken up."

Jordan left the office and called her sister, then her boyfriend. They encouraged her to call the police. When she did, the police asked her to come in and make a report. Dick was later arrested on misdemeanor harassment charges.

Jordan said she wanted to join the suit to keep other women safe.

"I just want to make sure that this never happens to anyone ever again, from him or any other doctor," she said. "And to let people know they can stand up for themselves."

Medical license

The lawsuit also alleges that in April 2017, Dick rubbed the breasts of a 25-year-old, mentally-disabled quadriplegic woman while she was in his office with her aunt.

Another patient, identified in the complaint as Grace Goe, went to the police after she said Dick put his hands down her pants without gloves on, kissed her on the mouth without her consent and rubbed his erect penis on her leg.

In the lawsuit, the women are alleging assault and invasion of privacy, among other charges. The complaint doesn't specify an amount of money the women are seeking.

Dick has been licensed to practice medicine in Alabama since 1998. He previously practiced in Palo Alto, Calif.

The only disciplinary action the Alabama State Board of Medical Examiners has ever taken against Dick, according to publicly available records, was fining him in 2006 for lying about earning continuing education credits.

The board maintains that patient complaints, malpractice case information and investigations remain confidential by state law.

Hunter, the attorney for the board, said the board is not dependent on the outcome of a criminal investigation when conducting its own investigation into complaints made against a physician.

The board will sometimes wait for the conclusion of a criminal investigation to take action against a physician, and other times will take its own steps to suspend or revoke a license, or to put a physician on probation.

"This board takes their duty to protect the public really seriously," said Hunter. "We can have a lot of confidence in them in what they'll do in this situation."

Currently Dick's medical license has not been suspended or revoked.