A prominent Manhattan gynecologist accused of sexually abusing 200+ patients over his decades-long career was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Tuesday. He was convicted in federal court of four counts related to sexual abuse.
Robert Hadden, 64, lured women and girls into his office and sexually abused them under the guise of medically necessary care, according to the indictment filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. His misconduct is believed to have spanned about 25 years, including his time at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.
Hadden used “sophisticated techniques” and “exploited the power differential inherent in the doctor-patient relationship,” according to the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
“He built rapport with victims, he asked victims invasive and unprompted questions about their sexual activity, including about sex positions and if they were able to achieve orgasm, and he provided unsolicited advice on these topics,” according to the announcement. “He also used so-called breast and vaginal exams to hide his abuse, he isolated patients, and he conducted fake examinations.”
During his sentencing on Tuesday, the Associated Press reported that Hadden sobbed and said there was “much I’d like to say.”
“I’m very sorry for all the pain that I have caused,” Hadden added, following testimonies from 11 survivors.
US District Judge Richard Berman described Hadden’s behavior as “lewd, serious, out of control, depraved, extraordinary,” CBS News reported. Per the announcement, Hadden will also receive “a lifetime of supervised release” following his sentence and has been ordered to pay a $10,000 fine and a $400 special assessment fee.
Patients had been reporting abuse to Hadden’s employer as early as the 1990s. In 2014, Hadden was indicted on assault allegations; two years later, former Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance offered Hadden a plea deal that involved no jail time if he pleaded guilty to “two individual counts of criminal sex act in the third degree and forcible touching,” CBS News reported.
As more patients stepped forward—notably Marissa Hoechstetter, who was the first survivor to publicly come forward about the abuse years after she says she experienced it at Hadden’s hands while she was pregnant with her twin daughters—the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York filed federal charges against Hadden in 2020 for abusing six patients.
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The case became a rallying cause for women in the wake of #MeToo and aided the passage of the Adult Survivors Act (ASA) in New York.
The law, signed by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul last May—less than a year after her predecessor Andrew Cuomo resigned in light of his own alleged sexual misconduct—grants sexual assault survivors the chance to sue their abuser after the statute of limitations has passed within a one-time, one-year window set by the state.
Alexis Grenell, a key strategist behind the ASA, called the verdict “incredible” but highlighted one of the shortcomings: NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center refused to contact Hadden’s roster of 6,000–8,000 former patients and notify them of his sexual abuse, which the hospital had been first notified about in 1994.
“That’s been one of the asks that the team of 200+ women who have now come forward have repeatedly pressed the hospital to do, and they’ve refused to. I imagine it’s because they don't want to expose themselves to more liability,” Grenell told Healthcare Brew. “There are four months left of the Adult Survivors Act window in which patients and survivors could come forward and take advantage of their new rights under the law to sue Columbia—and anyone else or institution that covered up sexual abuse. Columbia is obviously protecting their interests here as they have all along.”
Neither NewYork-Presbyterian nor Columbia University responded to a request for comment. The hospitals previously reached a $165 million agreement with 147 of Hadden’s former patients, following a similar settlement with 79 women in 2021, according to an announcement in October 2022.
“We deeply regret the pain that Robert Hadden’s patients suffered and hope that these resolutions will provide some measure of support for the women he hurt,” according to a statement from Columbia University Irving Medical Center at the time of the agreement. “All those who came forward should be commended. We are committed to the safety and dignity of every one of our patients and have adopted policies to ensure they are protected and empowered while in our care.”