Columbia, New York-Presbyterian Hospital settle hundreds of sexual abuse complaints involving an ex-docking
Columbia University And New York-Presbyterian Hospital has accepted a regulation of $ 750 million hundreds of hundreds of sexual abuse complaints by disgrace patients and imprisoned the former gynecologist Robert Hadden, bringing total legal payments to civil affairs involving the former doctor at more than a billion dollars, according to the lawyer.
Hadden, now 66, has been accused of having attacked patients during a career of several decades in the prestigious New York hospitals, including the Columbia University Medical Center and New York-Presbyterian. He was sentenced by a jury in 2023 federal accusations on sexual crime and sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.
The new colonies, approved by a Manhattan judge on Monday, are presented in 576 legal affairs against the Ivy League school, the hospital and other people on the abuses of Hadden, the lawyer for the complainants Anthony T. Dipietro.
“This victory does not only concern the victims and survivors of Columbia University and the concealment of the New York-Presbyterian hospital who were courageously manifested, but for all of us who lead medical institutions with our health care,” said Dipietro in a statement.
“For too long, Columbia and New York-Presbyterian have favored the protection of their reputation on the protection of their patients,” he said. “These regulations send a powerful message that we are here to ensure that the institutions covering the exploitation and the abuses will be fully responsible for their crimes.”
Dipietro said that the average payment for the complainants of the new regulation will be around $ 1.3 million. Columbia previously accepted $ 277 million in regulations with more than 200 other complainants about Hadden's sexual abuse, he said.
Columbia confirmed the regulations but not the amount on Tuesday. New York-Presbyterian lawyers did not immediately respond to emails asking for comments.
“As previously announced, Columbia is implementing a plan with several components, including an external survey, an survivor's settlement fund and a series of new and updated safety programs to combat Robert Hadden's abuses,” the university said in a press release responding to a message associated with the press, specifically asking for $ 750 million.
“We deeply regret the pain that his patients suffered, and these regulations are another step forward in our current work and our commitment to repair damage and support survivors,” he said. “We congratulate the survivors for their bravery by presenting themselves.”
New York-Presbyterian has returned questions about the settlement in Columbia, saying that the school used Hadden.
One of the complainants of the prosecution, Laurie Maldonado, who continued Columbia, New York-Presbyterian, Hadden and others, said that her case was not a matter of money.
“This is responsibility,” she said in a statement provided by Dipietro. “Columbia university has allowed sadistic abuses, and now they have been forced to face the truth. We hope this sends a clear message to each institution: the survivors will not be silenced and those who protect the attackers will be held responsible.”
The Associated Press generally does not appoint victims of sexual assault unless they manifest themselves publicly, like Maldonado.
The accusers of Hadden also included Evelyn Yang, the wife of the former presidential candidate and candidate for the town hall of New York, Andrew Yang, who said that Hadden had mistreated her when she was pregnant with her first child.
During Hadden's criminal trial, Nine victims testified About the way Hadden attacked them during gynecology treatments, from the late 1980s, in important hospitals.
The allegations of misconduct during the exams surfaced for the first time in 2012. Hadden was charged with state accusations in 2014 when women continued to come forward. But in 2016, the Manhattan District Prosecutor's Office at the time, Cyrus Vance Jr., allowed Hadden to plead guilty to two low -level crimes and an offense in an agreement that forced him to abandon his medical license but did not need prison sentence and kept it outside the register of sex offenders.
Some of the women who had gone to the state prosecutors were indignant, but their stories did not start to receive the public's attention until the #MeToo movement begins to gain steam in 2017.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan obtained an indictment from the Grand Jury against Hadden in 2020, accusations based on that some patients from his offices in New York had come to the city of other states.
In November 2023, the Columbia and Columbia University Irving Medical Center announced that they would inform 6,500 former Hadden patients of its federal condemnations on sexual crime and give victims the opportunity to request compensation from a $ 100 million settlement funds. The deadline to be applied has been extended until May 15.
