NEW YORK — Disgraced former Columbia University gynecologist Robert Hadden was motivated solely by “his own sexual desires” when he abused vulnerable patients, prosecutors charged at the start of his Manhattan Federal Court abuse trial Monday.
The feds have accused the convicted former obstetrician — who was for decades well respected in his field — of inducing four women to travel from out of state so he could abuse and molest them under the guise of conducting gynecological and obstetric examinations.
In his opening argument, Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Monteleone said the victims were among dozens of vulnerable patients who trusted him as they sought healthcare, but whom Hadden preyed on, instead.
“This is a case about a doctor who sexually assaults his patients,” said Monteleone. “Patient after patient, year after year.”
Hadden enticed patients to his New York practice, where he molested them and pretended the abuse had a valid medical purpose, the prosecutor said.
Monteleone told jurors that the doc abused many of his victims on their first trip to the gynecologist in experiences that scarred them for life.
“These victims would give anything for this not to have happened,” the prosecutor said.
The 64-year-old defendant has been under home confinement on a $1 million bond since his 2020 arrest by the feds. The victims in the federal case encompass a fraction of those who have publicly come forward with accusations Hadden abused them over his 23-year career.
More than 200 women ages 15 to 70 have spoken out, including patients Hadden delivered as babies who say he later abused them.
Many have successfully sought justice against Hadden and the institutions where he worked in civil actions. Some were included in a criminal case brought a decade ago by former Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr., which ended in a widely decried slap-on-the-wrist plea deal in 2016.
The deal allowed Hadden to plead guilty to committing a perverted sexual act and forcibly touching two patients. In exchange, he surrendered his medical license, registered as a low-level sex offender and did not have to serve jail time. The feds arrested him again in 2020 on new charges of sexually abusing patients between 1993 and 2022.
In her opening argument, Hadden’s attorney, Deirdre von Dornum of the Federal Defenders, asked jurors to set aside their feelings about sexual abuse. She said her client was being unfairly tried for a second time.
Von Dornum said Hadden had paid his dues for the abuse and was not guilty of the crimes charging him with enticing four women from out of state, which allowed for a federal prosecution. She said one woman came from New Jersey, another from Las Vegas and one came from Rockland County but traveled through New Jersey on her way.
“That’s not enticement. That’s not inducement,” said von Dornum, adding that there would be “no evidence that he even knew in advance which patient was scheduled or for which day.”
“Cancel, condemn him,” she continued. “Do not convict him for a crime he did not commit.”
In October, 147 of Hadden’s alleged victims reached a $165 million settlement with Columbia University Irving Medical Center and New York-Presbyterian. It followed a similar deal in 2021, in which the two institutions paid his former patients $71 million.
Among those who have spoken out about Hadden’s abuse and how it remained unchecked for so long is Evelyn Yang, married to former New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Yang. She says Hadden abused her during an OBGYN visit in 2012, when she was seven months pregnant.
Hadden became the subject of another lawsuit in November brought by two unnamed women, now living in Sweden and New Jersey. The case was brought under the new Adult Survivors Act. Many of Hadden’s victims who have gone public lobbied New York lawmakers to enact the legislation. Those included the first to come forward, Marissa Hoechstetter, who was pregnant with twins when the 20-year Columbia doctor first allegedly abused her.
Hadden has pleaded not guilty to all charges. He faces up to a century in prison if convicted.
———
