Columbia University has agreed to a $750 million settlement with 576 patients of a former doctor who sexually abused them while working at the school.
In 2023, a ProPublica investigation, published with New York Magazine, revealed how Columbia had ignored women, undermined prosecutors and ultimately protected a predator. Obstetrician-gynecologist Robert Hadden worked at the university for 20 years despite decades of complaints about him.
The university had even cleared Hadden to see patients three days after he was arrested when a patient called 911 to report that he had assaulted her during a postpartum exam. University higher-ups had been informed of the arrest but allowed Hadden to continue working for another five weeks. Patients he saw during that time also reported being assaulted.
The latest settlement, combined with payouts from previous cases, means that Columbia will have paid out more than $1 billion to resolve claims of sexual abuse by Hadden. Columbia also said that it has now settled more than 1,000 claims of sexual abuse by Hadden’s former patients.
Hadden was convicted of sex crimes in federal court in January 2023 and is now serving a 20-year prison sentence.
Laurie Kanyok, the patient who called 911, said the settlement is bittersweet. “It’s emotional because it’s been 13 years,” she told ProPublica.
She also said that financial compensation does not amount to justice.
“I’m grateful that I’m involved in this,” Kanyok said. “At the same time, I feel like I want to see people held accountable and not just somebody’s insurance company or checkbook.”
Unlike in other high-profile cases involving sexual abuse by doctors, no administrators from Columbia have been fired or have stepped down as a result of the Hadden case.
In a statement, Columbia acknowledged failing to protect Hadden’s patients. “We deeply regret the pain that his patients suffered, and this settlement is another step forward in our ongoing work and commitment to repair harm and support survivors,” the statement said. “We commend the survivors for their bravery in coming forward.”
The latest settlement puts Columbia on par with the largest payout ever by a university to settle sexual abuse claims. In 2021, the University of Southern California agreed to pay $1.1 billion to survivors of George Tyndall, a university gynecologist who abused thousands of women.
Anthony DiPietro, the attorney who handled most of the Columbia claims, said the lesson from this week’s settlement is clear: Institutions “cannot continue to cover up sexual exploitation and abuse by their doctors because they’re going to be held accountable.”
Weeks after ProPublica’s investigation, Columbia announced that it would set up a $100 million settlement fund for patients who did not want to file civil suits. Survivors have about another week, until May 15, to submit a claim.
As part of the same announcement, Columbia also said it would notify all of Hadden’s nearly 6,500 former patients of the doctor’s crimes and that it would commission an external investigation to examine failures that allowed the abuse to go on for so long.
Asked about the status of that investigation, which was announced a year and a half ago, the university said it is ongoing. Columbia did not give a time frame for the report’s completion.
