Robert Hadden, a gynecologist in the US, was given a 20-year sentence for sexually abusing over 200 patients

A federal court sentenced a gynecologist to 20 years in prison on Tuesday for sexually abusing helpless and trusting patients in famous New York hospitals for more than two decades. The judge referred to the doctor’s offenses as unparalleled and saw no precedence for what he had done.

Hundreds of former patients who claimed the doctor molested them during tests received some measure of justice with Robert Hadden’s 64-year-old sentence after an earlier case resulted in a plea agreement that kept him out of prison.

When Hadden was given the opportunity to speak on Tuesday, he stood with his hands folded in front of him and stated, “There is much I’d like to say, but I’ve been advised by lawyers to keep my statement brief.”

The tearful Hadden replied, “I’m very sorry for all the pain that I have caused,” before lowering his head and sitting down once again. He then removed his spectacles and dabbed his eyes with a tissue.

Judge Richard M. Berman said in his testimony over the last two days that the case was unlike any he had ever seen before and featured “outrageous, horrific, beyond extraordinary, depraved sexual abuse.” He said that at least 245 of the women Hadden saw claimed to have been assaulted.

There were fewer victims in the federal trial. Hadden was found guilty on four counts of luring women over state lines so that he may abuse them sexually.

At the trial, nine victims testified about how Hadden raped them while receiving gynecological care at renowned institutions, including Columbia University Irving Medical Center and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, beginning in the late 1980s. The Associated Press normally does not identify sexual assault victims unless they come forward in the media.

In 2012, the first claims of examination fraud appeared. 2014 saw the indictment of Hadden on state charges as more and more women — 19 to date — came forward. However, in 2016, Hadden was given permission by the office of the then-Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus Vance Jr., to enter a plea agreement that required him to renounce his medical license but did not result in jail time and kept him off the state’s sex offender registry.

Some of the women who had approached state prosecutors were upset, but it wasn’t until the #MeToo movement gained traction in 2017 that their tales started to garner public attention.

As a result of allegations that some of the patients at Hadden’s New York locations had traveled to the city from other states, federal prosecutors in Manhattan obtained a grand jury indictment against him in 2020. Jan. saw his conviction.

Several dozen of Hadden’s accusers were present in the courtroom for his sentence, and several of them talked with media and other attendees outside the building afterward to express their feelings. Liz Hall was one of them, and she claimed to have regarded Hadden’s declaration of sorrow to be insincere. There was no apologies in that. He has not shown any regret or compassion. I believe he is incompetent,” she remarked.

Hall expressed her hope that more sexual assault victims will be inspired by the punishment to come forward.

Later, a few of the Hadden victims fought for a change in New York law that made it simpler for survivors of sexual assault to file lawsuits for claims that would otherwise be time-barred by the statute of limitations. In order to resolve civil lawsuits brought by more than 200 former patients, the hospitals where Hadden worked have agreed to pay more than $236 million.

According to prosecution evidence, Hadden groomed his patients in a private office filled with images of his children as he spoke with them about their personal life, benefiting from the reputation of the institutions where he worked.

However, once a nurse or chaperone left the treatment area and he had isolated them, he fondled and prodded them with gloveless fingers and sometimes orally.

The court highlighted that many of Hadden’s patients were especially vulnerable because they were expecting, had health issues, had never seen another gynecologist before, or just had faith in him to act in an appropriate manner. Hadden still hasn’t admitted guilt, according to assistant US attorney Jane Kim, who made the statement on Tuesday.

Outside of court, Dian Monson recalled drafting a lengthy letter to Columbia in the early months of 1994 outlining the abuse she had experienced during a consultation with Hadden the year before. She said that Columbia replied in a letter, and a representative promised to get in touch with her after asking Hadden about it.

More than 20 years later, Monson saw a television program in which Evelyn Yang, whose husband Andrew Yang campaigned for president in 2020 and mayor of New York City in 2022, revealed abuse that was comparable to what she had experienced. Yang said that Hadden had molested her when she was seven months pregnant years before. She said that Columbia had disputed learning about Hadden’s abuse before 2012.

Monson said that when she looked back to the hospital’s answer to her complaint to Columbia in 1994, she thought, “That’s a total lie, and I have the evidence that will prove that’s a total lie.”

“I honestly think you are the only reason,” Hall complimented her. Columbia was compelled to accept responsibility.

Although he only partially agreed, Monson grinned and said, “I sort of caught him. All of us managed to catch him.