A federal judge in Manhattan sentenced former Columbia University gynecologist Robert Hadden on Monday to 20 years in prison and a lifetime of post-release supervision, for four counts of encouraging patients to cross state lines so he could sexually assault them at their appointments.
Hadden was convicted in January of abusing those four patients, in incidents that occurred between 1993 and 2012 at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, which later became New York-Presbyterian Hospital.
U.S. District Judge Richard Berman explained how he arrived at his sentencing decision as part of a lengthy discussion about the case, during which he revisited harrowing testimonies from the women about the sexual abuse they endured. In many instances, Hadden abused the women while they were pregnant, conducting invasive, sexually charged exams that served no medical purpose and left the women shaken and horrified.
Each count carried a maximum sentence of 20 years. Berman ruled Hadden will serve the four sentences concurrently, rather than consecutively.
The judge repeatedly called the case “unprecedented,” due in part to the number of victims that Hadden abused, the decades during which the abuse continued, and the way Hadden was able to deceive those around him and keep his position as a respected Columbia doctor.
“This case is like no other in my experience,” Berman told the packed courtroom, including several of Hadden’s victims. “It is unquestionably outside the heartland of the sentencing guideline range, and will be treated as such.”
In addition to the four women at the center of the federal case, Berman said that 245 women had come forward as victims, resulting in settlements totaling over $230 million from Columbia University Irving Medical Center and New York-Presbyterian Hospital in 2021 and 2022. Among the victims who came forward was Evelyn Yang, the wife of past presidential candidate Andrew Yang.
In 2016, Hadden pleaded guilty in state court to abusing two…
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