$750M Settlement for Survivors of Former OB-GYN’s Sexual Abuse

On May 5, 2025, Columbia University and New York-Presbyterian agreed to a $750 million settlement with hundreds of former patients of Robert Hadden, a gynecologist convicted and sentenced for multiple sex crimes.  Hadden, who had worked at Columbia University and New York-Presbyterian’s affiliated hospitals since the early 1990s, initially pled guilty to a single count of a criminal sexual act but has since been indicted for additional sex crimes as new allegations came to light. Following a 13-year process, the settlement resolves allegations questioning whether Hadden’s former employers knew about and systematically covered up his abuses, and it marks more than $1 billion in total payments to his victims. The firm representing the victims - numbering at least 576 women - described the settlement as “a new record for patients in cases involving institutional cover-ups of medical neglect.”