Columbia University and a New York City hospital on Monday agreed to a $756 million settlement with 576 victims over a decades-long cover-up of crimes committed by disgraced gynecologist and convicted sex offender Robert Hadden.
The deal was approved Monday in Manhattan Supreme Court, the New York Post reported. It is the largest per-plaintiff civil resolution in U.S. history, averaging $1.3 million per survivor. Approximately $277 million had been secured for Hadden victims in previous settlements against Columbia, bringing the total payouts to just over $1 billion with Monday’s agreement.
“This settlement is not about money — it’s about accountability,” victim Laurie Maldonado, who was a patient of Hadden’s for nearly a decade, told the Post. “Columbia University enabled sadistic abuse, and now, they’ve been forced to face the truth.”
In 2023, Hadden was sentenced to 20 years in prison for sexually abusing hundreds of patients during his years as a gynecologist. Nine victims reportedly testified at trial, describing how Hadden molested them during gynecology treatments, starting in the late 1980s, at prominent hospitals, including Columbia University Irving Medical Center and New York-Presbyterian Hospital.
Allegations of misconduct during examinations first surfaced in 2012. Hadden was indicted on state charges in 2014 as women kept coming forward. But in 2016, the office of the Manhattan district attorney at the time, Democrat Cyrus Vance Jr., allowed Hadden to plead guilty to two low-level felonies and a misdemeanor in a deal that required him to give up his medical license but didn’t require jail time and kept him out of the state’s sex offender registry.
“For far too long, Columbia and New York-Presbyterian have prioritized protecting their reputations over protecting their patients,” said attorney Anthony T. DiPietro, who has represented Hadden victims since 2012, according to the Post.
DiPietro said he discovered in 2012 a letter written by the head of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Columbia in 1995, apologizing for “Hadden’s assault” and undercutting the institution’s claims they were unaware of Hadden’s transgressions.
When Columbia announced they were establishing a $100 million victims fund in 2023, DiPietro said it was “woefully inadequate.”
“This 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,” DiPietro said, according to the Post.