2023-10-04 08:27:45
More than 300 women participated, on Tuesday, in filing a new lawsuit against Columbia University, over a gynecologist who worked for it, accusing him of sexually assaulting them during physical examinations, despite the fact that he had already been sentenced to 20 years in prison.
According to the newspaper “Wall Street JournalThis lawsuit is the third civil case filed against Columbia University, which includes the former doctor, Robert Haden, alleging that he “harassed his patients” and that “hospital administrators, nurses, and other doctors helped cover up the abuse.”
“The cover-up was widespread and continued for years,” said plaintiffs’ attorney, Anthony DiPietro. Doctor Hadden’s lawyer did not immediately respond to the Wall Street Journal’s request for comment.
On the other hand, Columbia University responded with a comment issued last month by university president Nemat Shafik (nicknamed Minouche). “Columbia University continues to grapple with the extent of the harm done to the patients of former physician Robert Haden,” she wrote.
She added: “We offer our deepest apologies to all his victims and their loved ones.”
The judge refused to use clemency… 20 years imprisonment for the harassing doctor
A federal court sentenced a former Manhattan gynecologist to 20 years in prison, Tuesday, after convicting him of sexually assaulting four female patients during medical examinations, the New York Times reported.
Last July, a federal court sentenced Hadden to 20 years in prison, after he was convicted of sexually assaulting 4 female patients during a medical examination, according to the New York Times.
The 20-year prison sentence is the legal maximum on the four charges Hadden was convicted of in January. His imprisonment will be followed by lifelong parole.
In addition to proving that he assaulted four female patients, prosecutors said that Hadden “assaulted dozens of his female patients during medical examinations in the early 1990s.”
The “harassing doctor” was arrested for the first time in 2012, after a patient called the police after undergoing an examination and accused him of touching her in a sexual manner.
In 2016, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office struck a deal with Hadden, who was accused at the time of sexually assaulting 19 female patients, that allowed him to avoid prison time, in exchange for him surrendering his medical license and pleading guilty to a third-degree criminal sexual act and misdemeanor touching. Forced.
The case attracted renewed attention in 2020, after Evelyn Yang, the wife of former presidential candidate Andrew Yang, reported that she was one of Hadden’s victims.
A month after her statement, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office announced the opening of an investigation into new allegations of abuse against Hadden.
In 2021, Columbia University paid a $72 million settlement to 79 female patients of the former doctor. In 2022, the same university paid a new $165 million settlement for an additional 147 patients.
The new lawsuit alleges that “hospital staff and administrators knew as early as 1994 that the doctor was mistreating patients, when a complaint was filed with the acting chief of obstetrics and gynecology.”
The lawsuit further alleges that “nurses, doctors, and other aides were often inside the examination room during the assaults, and did nothing to stop the abuse.”
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