Under pressure, Columbia promises $100 million to patients abused by doctors
Nearly four months after a former Columbia University gynecologist was sentenced to 20 years in prison for abusing patients, the university on Monday apologized to the victims and announced a “multi-pronged” response plan.
The former doctor, Robert A. Hadden, was convicted in federal court earlier this year of inducing four patients to cross state lines for examinations in which he sexually abused them.
For years, victims and their supporters have called on the university to inform Mr. Hadden’s former patients of the charges against him. Since his conviction, Columbia medical students, staff, lawmakers and victims have increased pressure on the university to admit guilt in Hadden’s decades-long abuse of his patients.
Now, in addition to an apology, the university will work with an outside investigator to “thoroughly investigate the circumstances and failures” that led to Mr.’s abuse. Had enabled and informed nearly 6,500 former patients of his conviction and sentencing – a point that victims and advocates support. have strongly urged it. The university said it would notify patients within 72 hours of the announcement. It will also establish a $100 million settlement fund that will be open for a year starting in January, according to a news release.
“We owe it to the courageous survivors and the entire Columbia community to fully reckon with Hadden’s abuses,” said Minouche Shafik, president of Columbia University, and Dr. Katrina Armstrong, CEO of the medical center, said in the press release.
“Columbia has failed these survivors, and for that we are deeply sorry,” she added. “This announcement aims to ensure we are on a path that repairs damage and prevents further trauma – moving us forward and rebuilding the trust of our entire community.”
The university also announced that it had developed a series of new patient safety policies and programs, including the establishment of a center focused on quality care and patient safety.
Mr. Hadden was first arrested and charged while working at Columbia University and its affiliated hospitals. He pleaded guilty in state court to a single misdemeanor count of criminal sexual act in the third degree and a misdemeanor count of forcible touching, but he was spared jail time as part of a plea deal.
According to prosecutors and witnesses, reports of Mr. Hadden’s abuse date back 20 years, to his early years working at the University Hospital. During that time, he improved methods of seeing patients alone during examinations and assaulting them, prosecutors said. Warnings and reports about his inappropriate behavior and abuse were not followed up by hospital management, authorities said.
Even after Mr. Had he been indicted, hospital leaders avoided telling patients why Mr. Had no longer been employed. At several points they thwarted efforts to investigate the former doctor by failing to turn over evidence and cooperating with prosecutors, a recent investigation shows. reporting by ProPublica.
Now the university is facing a slew of lawsuits from Mr. Hadden’s former patients under the Adult Survivors Act. The law gives victims who were 18 or older at the time of the alleged abuse a one-time opportunity to file a civil lawsuit in New York, even if the statute of limitations has expired. The legislation, which followed the passage of the Child Victims Act, has given people the ability to file civil lawsuits for a one-year period starting at the end of November last year.
In recent years, the university has reached at least two separate settlements with more than 200 of Mr. Hadden’s former patients totaling about $236 million, but has not admitted any guilt.
In October, a group of New York State lawmakers sent a letter to Ms. Shafik asking that the university inform former patients about Mr. Hadden and launch an independent investigation into how he was able to abuse patients during his stay at the hospitals .
That month, more than 300 of Mr. Hadden’s victims filed lawsuits against Columbia University Medical Center.