Columbia Settles With 79 Survivors Of Robert Hadden's Sexual Abuse

Upper West Side NY

12 December, 2021

5:00 PM

Description

Columbia Daily Spectator BY ADAM FROMMER DECEMBER 10, 2021 Content warning: This article discusses topics of sexual abuse. Columbia University Irving Medical Center and New York-Presbyterian Hospital will compensate approximately $71.5 million to 79 of the over 200 patients who have so far reported instances of sexual abuse or misconduct by former gynecologist Robert Hadden, as announced by the medical center and NYP on Dec. 1. Hadden was first arrested in 2012 after a patient alleged that he had licked them during an exam. After being released and returning to his office the following week, Hadden continued to sexually abuse his patients until he was removed from his office six weeks later. He was criminally indicted in 2014 after the district attorney charged him with six accounts of sexual assault, and in 2016 he was convicted in New York state after pleading guilty to a criminal sex act in the third degree and forcible touching. Hadden was forced to surrender his medical license but did not face jail time. Now, Hadden awaits federal trial for seven criminal counts of sexual abuse after encouraging women to cross state lines to see him between 1993 and 2012. The University has been negotiating with two lawyers during mediation: attorney Adam P. Slater, who represents the 79 former patients in the Dec. 1 settlement, and attorney Anthony DiPietro, who represents another 125 former patients that have not met an agreement with the University. Immediately following the University's announcement of the settlement, DiPietro, along with clients Marissa Hoechstetter and Evelyn Yang, released a statement arguing that the settlement is "woefully inadequate" and is consistent with "decades of sexual abuse coverups" at Columbia. The settlement is the result of a mediation that took place during a civil lawsuit against the medical center and NYP, and DiPietro says Slater came to the agreement without his knowledge. In a joint statement released following the settlement on Dec. 1, Yang and Hoechstetter claimed that at least 80 additional women, whom DiPietro represented, were willing to accept similar terms, but that the University did not offer them the same settlement. A University spokesperson denied these claims, writing that "any charge that we have been unwilling to settle is false" and "the same terms were offered to the entire group of known claimants," in a statement to Spectator. While representing less than half of the women alleging sexual abuse, the agreement represents the University's commitment to supporting Hadden's former patients. "The settlement announced today reflects our determination to support the admirable women who have come forward and called attention to Hadden's abhorrent behavior," Donna Lynne, senior vice president and chief operating officer at the medical center, said in a University press release. The settlement provides closure and compensation to many survivors. "My clients have gone through hell and back. They're always going to carry these horrors with them. But at least this enables them to have a chance of moving forward meaningfully," Slater said. Despite the support that the settlement provides for Hadden's former patients, DiPietro believes some terms of the settlement represent Columbia's continued effort to "sabotage" the criminal case against Hadden. For example, DiPietro claims that part of the current settlement prohibits Slater's clients from speaking with him. Slater denies knowledge of this and said that while certain aspects of the settlement are not public information, all former patients involved in the settlement are able to discuss Hadden's sexual abuse and participate in the criminal case against Hadden if they choose. "All of the women who settled are free to speak about their own experiences and abuse to anyone, including to Anthony DiPietro, and to testify at Hadden's criminal trial," a University spokesperson wrote in a statement to Spectator. DiPietro, who filed one of the original cases against Hadden in 2013 and represents the majority of patients alleging abuse, has played a prominent role in denouncing the University's response to Hadden's abuse allegations. A lack of communication between DiPietro—who represents more survivors than Slater and claims to have more knowledge about the case and its stakeholders than anyone else—and the survivors in the case would hamper both the criminal and the civil prosecution. Hoechstetter believes Columbia's recent actions reflect an attempt to reduce its legal risk, given the upcoming trial against Hadden. In 2020, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office opened a criminal investigation into Columbia's handling of Hadden's sexual abuse allegations, but according to DiPietro, an indictment has not been issued yet. "It's all about liability. They are actively working to make sure that fewer and fewer people have a legal avenue to hold them accountable," she said. After hearing the news of the Dec. 1 settlement, DiPietro and his clients intend to end mediation and bring their case against Columbia back to the court system. "We have been in mediation with them, they refuse to acknowledge their responsibility for employing and enabling Hadden for so many years," Hoechstetter said. During mediation, DiPietro would reportedly wait weeks for the University's lawyers to respond, if at all. "They've made no attempt to hear us," she said. Columbia never sent a notice to Hadden's former patients, which likely has prevented some of them from coming forward or even knowing they were abused, DiPietro said. While Hadden allegedly recommended routine pap smears as frequently as every three months, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services only recommends them once every three to five years. Patients unaware of Hadden's record may not have thought twice about these visits, he said. "It's a huge crime in terms of the sexual exploitation and abuse, but it's bigger than that," DiPietro said. "As a financial crime, these women were paying for those visits. They were paying for the medical care. Their insurance companies were involved. The University was receiving money from insurance companies illegally." The University has a history of impeding survivors' paths to justice, DiPietro said. He spent two and a half years fighting for the anonymity of his first client. "Columbia's approach was to lawyer up and to fight to expose the identity of my client in an effort to bully her into withdrawing her case." In a statement on Dec. 1, DiPietro criticized the medical center and NYP for using the settlement as a "self-serving, public relations talking point." DiPietro and his clients argue that the University has not sufficiently apologized and implemented a sufficient culture shift, which makes its announcement of the settlement "even more insulting," Hoechstetter said. Since 2012, the medical center and NYP have reformed numerous policies in response to the experiences of Hadden's patients. These include informing patients of their rights and expectations before exams, as well as annual mandatory training on the chaperone policy, which requires a chaperone present for sensitive exams. They have also implemented reporting lines and systems to oversee patient safety issues. DiPietro argues that administrators who are responsible for enabling Hadden's sexual abuse have not seen proper consequences. He cites a 1995 letter from the then-acting chair of obstetrics and gynecology apologizing for an incident of sexual abuse involving Hadden. The chair took no further action against Hadden and the abuse continued. Furthermore, DiPietro claims that the current Chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology Mary Dalton, obstetrician John Ivanko, and General Counsel Jane Booth all knew that police arrested Hadden after the 2012 incident but allowed him back the next week—when he assaulted one of DiPietro's clients. "We have this long history of Columbia bending over backward to try to protect Robert Hadden," he said. "You can't have a serial predator without the predator being affiliated with an institution that helps to cover up the abuse." "Hadden's arrest was voided within hours," a University spokesperson wrote in a statement to Spectator. "No one at Columbia at the time had any knowledge of any prior allegations of misconduct. We regret that he saw patients again for several weeks." Taking on the University requires courage, Hoechstetter said. "I'm not intimidated by them. I know that what happened to me was wrong. I know that I'm right. I know they're responsible. They've continued over the years, just [say], make it go away, make it go away, deny, deflect, make it go away. And that's not going to work." Staff writer Adam Frommer can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @adamfrommer. Founded in 1877, the Columbia Daily Spectator is the independent undergraduate newspaper of Columbia University, serving thousands of readers in Morningside Heights, West Harlem, and beyond. Read more at columbiaspectator.com and donate here.