Former patients mourn generations of trauma inflicted by convicted OB/GYN Robert Hadden, who faces Monday sentencing

For almost three decades, women who sought gynecological services from Robert Hadden in New York City’s most prestigious medical institutions were subjected to serial sexual abuse disguised as health care.

Ahead of his Monday sentencing at Manhattan federal court, Hadden’s former patients mourned the generations of trauma inflicted by the former obstetrician-gynecologist at Columbia University’s medical practice — and the countless opportunities those in power had to stop him.

Robyn Bass Lavender told the Daily News that Hadden’s day of reckoning was one more step in a process “that never should have taken this long to get to justice.”

“And I’m not talking about the federal case taking too long, I’m talking about when this was first reported. Columbia has known for decades that they had a problem, and they swept it under the rug,” Lavender said.

“They could have done things that would have avoided so much of the trauma that he caused,” she added.

Hadden’s depravity flew under the radar of many patients he abused who had little experience with OB/GYNs, but it wasn’t invisible to everyone. Hospital administrators learned of allegations long before the feds brought charges in 2020.

Evidence in his case showed that a patient reported him to Columbia administrators in 1994, early into Hadden’s 25-year tenure, after at least two nurses had witnessed his abuse.

In a detailed three-page letter to the then-acting chairman of Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center’s obstetrics and gynecology department, Harold Fox, Dian Saderup Monson reported that Hadden had pulled on her nipples, conducted a “prolonged and physically forceful pap smear” and lubricated her in a sexual manner when she visited him about pregnancy concerns.

Fox told Monson he would “have a discussion with Dr. Hadden” and “immediately follow up.” She never heard from him again, and Hadden remained employed for another 18 years.

Incidents of abuse detailed in his various criminal and civil cases by hundreds of women varying in age include Hadden surreptitiously licking his patients’ genitals, tasting their breast milk and performing painful and medically unnecessary vaginal and anal exams with tools.

As Hadden’s brazen abuse increased, his position did, too.

He became an attending physician at NewYork-Presbyterian shortly after his 1990 promotion to Columbia University’s chief obstetrics and gynecology resident, where he began his residency around 1987.

Inside the hospital’s delivery unit, Hadden sexually abused as many as 144 women admitted in labor, Rosalina Lozada testified during his trial.

The midwife said every woman she witnessed Hadden examine from mid-1993 to 1999 was subjected to fake cervical exams resembling scenes from pornographic films.

“What the hell . . . What is he doing?” Lozada recalled thinking when she first saw Hadden examine a patient in labor, according to her testimony.

Lozada said she feared she would be retaliated against if she reported the senior physician.

Amy Yoney, a former cardiology research nurse at Columbia and a 12-year patient of Hadden’s, said she still felt guilt over referring friends to her doctor. Like many of Hadden’s victims, he was her first OB/GYN, and she was unaware his uncomfortable exams were acts of abuse.

“I didn’t realize until I actually had another physician,” Yoney said. “I realized that his exams were not medically necessary, and came to the hard realization that what I always believed was actually true.”

Yoney, who now lives and works outside New York at a small biotech company, doesn’t believe Hadden’s actions went unnoticed.

“He saw many, many patients and as we know now, the first letter came out back in the early nineties, and he actually wasn’t arrested,” she said. “And even after he was arrested the first time, when the police were called, they let him back in.

“I think that he was untouchable because he hid behind the institution.”

Hadden’s eventual arrest came in 2012 when Laurie Kanyok called 911, reporting that he sexually assaulted her during an exam.

A memo documenting Kanyok’s statements to Columbia administrators details how she called his assistant “hysterically crying” and “unable to speak” after the exam, requesting the name of the nurse who was in the room before it happened.

At the first stage of Hadden’s sentencing in June, when U.S. District Judge Richard Berman invited victims to address the court, Kanyok realized it marked almost 11 years to the day she called the cops.

“There was no choice. It was not an (option) not to call 911 because clearly there was a crime committed,” Kanyok said.

“As we know, we can go back and look at all the records, he’s been let off, he’s been set free, he’s been living at home ... The system needs to honor us with the justice of the maximum sentence.”

According to allegations in his federal case, Hadden would be back at work within a week of his arrest for assaulting Kanyok and go on to abuse at least one more patient. His eventual 2013 firing came after he filed multiple requests for extended leave.

Former Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr., who launched an investigation after the arrest, brought charges in 2014 alleging Hadden sexually abused six of his patients, including through fondling and licking their vaginas.

As the probe progressed and Hadden faced allegations in civil proceedings, Vance’s prosecutors indicated they were in touch with more women.

But in 2016, the DA did a 180 and offered Hadden the chance to plead guilty to assaulting just two women without serving jail time. As part of the deal, he was required to surrender his medical license and register as a low-level sex offender. The DA agreed not to bring further criminal action for anything uncovered in the years-long investigation.

In 2020, the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office brought the case Hadden’s victims had sought from Vance, leading to his arrest on charges carrying significant prison time and release on a $1 million bond. The jury swiftly convicted him in January on charges alleging he enticed patients from out of state to commit abuse under the guise of medical care.

In recent filings, Manhattan Assistant U.S. Attorney Jane Kim said Hadden, 64, of Englewood, N.J., should serve at least 25 years in prison. His federal public defender Deirdre von Dornum has implored the judge to impose three, arguing that he paid for his crimes in 2016 and shouldn’t have to continue defending himself because of opinions that his punishment was unsatisfactory.

Columbia University Irving Medical Center and New York-Presbyterian Hospital have collectively paid about $236 million to at least 200 of Hadden’s former patients over the last two years. Still, they have never directly admitted wrongdoing.

“CUIMC is profoundly sorry for the pain that Robert Hadden’s patients suffered and his exploitation of their trust. The prosecution of Hadden that led to his conviction of federal crimes showed how he purposely worked to evade our oversight and engineer situations to abuse his patients,” a spokesperson for Columbia University Medical Center said in a statement Monday.

“We commend all the women who have come forward, especially those who shared their experiences so publicly during these judicial proceedings. CUIMC is committed to the safety and dignity of every one of our patients and has adopted policies and practices over the past decade to ensure that patients are protected and empowered while in our care.”

Anthony T. DiPietro, a lawyer who’s represented scores of Hadden’s victims in various cases over the last 11 years, is pushing the New York Department of Health to enforce a 2016 order requiring all of Hadden’s former patients at Columbia University’s affiliated medical facilities be notified that he lost his license. The order also required that NewYork-Presbyterian patients Hadden treated be contacted. NewYork-Presbyterian did not respond to a request seeking comment.

DiPietro believes the victims who have come forward represent the tip of the iceberg.

“They’re trying to claim that the order is directed at Robert Hadden but not them. I mean, what are they trying to say, that if Robert Hadden shows up at the medical records office and says, ‘Oh, hey, I have to send out a letter to these women, give me their names and home addresses,’ that Columbia would actually turn that info over to Hadden?” DiPietro said.

“The burden, the duty, the obligation is on Columbia to inform their patients.”

Between the state and federal charges, when it looked like authorities had let Hadden off the hook, Marissa Hoechstetter, Evelyn Yang and several more women he abused took matters into their own hands. They successfully lobbied state lawmakers to pass the Adult Survivors Act, historic legislation empowering sexual assault victims to seek civil recourse after the statute of limitations had expired.

Women have continued to come forward with allegations since the one-year law passed in November, with the total number to levy accusations in all of Hadden’s cases and in legislative proceedings now numbering at least 350.

“Somewhere between six to eight thousand women and girls were exposed to him during his tenure,” DiPietro said.

“Those women deserve to know what happened. They deserve to know what they were exposed to.”