Columbia University Irving Medical Center and New York-Presbyterian have announced a $165 million settlement fund for 147 women who said they were sexually assaulted by former OB/GYN Robert Hadden.
Hadden is accused of sexually abusing dozens of women and minor girls during gynecological exams at his offices in Manhattan between 1993 and 2012.
According to the lawsuit, Hadden used the pretense of medical care to abuse pregnant and non-pregnant women by “grooming, sexually exploiting, fondling, ogling, penetrating and groping Plaintiffs’ bodies and genitalia for no medical purpose.”
Last year, the two hospitals also agreed to establish a $71 million settlement fund with 79 of Hadden’s former patients.
Hadden has not worked as a doctor since 2012. In 2016, he pleaded guilty to two charges of forcible touching and third-degree sexual abuse. He surrendered his medical license and was registered as a low-level sex offender, but never went to jail.
Hadden is also facing a separate federal indictment that was filed in September 2020, in whih U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss called him “a predator in a white coat.”
Source: $165M Settlement for Victims of Columbia Ob/Gyn’s Sexual Abuse