Payouts to Victims of Columbia OB-GYN Hit $1B

Columbia University and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital will pay $750 million to more than 500 victims of the sexual abuser Robert Hadden. The former gynecologist was allowed to continue practicing at New York City hospitals including NewYork-Presbyterian and Columbia's Irving Medical Center after victims went to police; the move brings the total victim payout to more than $1 billion. The $750 million deal approved Monday by the New York Supreme Court works out to an average payment of $1.3 million for each of the 576 victims abused over roughly two decades and comes on top of earlier payouts totaling $277 million for more than 200 other victims, per NBC New York and the New York Post.

But "this settlement is not about money—it's about accountability," victim Laurie Maldonado tells the Post. "Columbia University enabled sadistic abuse and now, they've been forced to face the truth." Attorney Anthony DiPietro has been fighting on behalf of Hadden's victims since 2012. That year, a woman told police Hadden had touched her sexually during a medical exam. The university allowed Hadden to continue seeing patients for weeks. Only later did DiPietro uncover a 1995 letter in which Columbia's then-head of Obstetrics and Gynecology acknowledged Hadden had assaulted a patient decades earlier. Hadden is now believed to have assaulted many hundreds of patients as far back as 1993.

DiPietro says the settlement "sends a powerful message that we're here to ensure that institutions covering up exploitation and abuse will be held fully accountable for their crimes," per the Post. Per the New York Times, he adds "this could be" the final settlement in the case against Hadden, who initially avoided prison before being sentenced to 20 years in 2023, though "I wouldn't be surprised if there were more patients impacted who have not come forward yet." Among Hadden's known victims is Evelyn Yang, the wife of former presidential candidate Andrew Yang. She said Hadden assaulted her when she was seven months pregnant in 2012 after Columbia allowed the OB-GYN to return to work. (More Columbia University stories.)