NEW YORK — 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 abuse trial Monday.
Prosecutors have accused the convicted former obstetrician — who was for decades well respected in his field — of inducing seven adult women and a teenage girl 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 at federal court in Manhattan, Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Monteleone said the victims were among dozens of vulnerable patients who trusted him as they sought health care but who Hadden abused his prestigious position to prey on.
Hadden enticed patients to his New York practice, where he molested them and pretended the abuse had a valid medical purpose, the prosecutor said. In fact, he was solely motivated “by his own sexual desires,” Monteleone 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 maligned slap-on-the-wrist plea deal in 2016.
The deal that sparked public outrage 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 minor 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 on sexual abuse. She said her client was being unfairly tried for a second time.
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 OB-GYN 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, which many victims of Hadden’s who have gone public lobbied New York lawmakers to enact, including the first to come forward, Marissa Hoechstetter, who was pregnant with twins when the 20-year Columbia doctor first allegedly abused her.
The legislation created a one-year window for sex assault victims to take legal action against their alleged assailant regardless of when the incident occurred.
Hadden has pleaded not guilty to all charges. He faces up to a century in prison if convicted.
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