https://www.propublica.org/article/columbia-obgyn-sexually-assaulted-
patients-for-20-years

For decades, patients warned Columbia about the behavior of obstetrician
Robert Hadden. One even called 911 and had him arrested. Columbia let him
keep working.

Laurie Kanyok was 38, a professional dancer on the cusp of retirement,
when she learned she was pregnant. She had already suffered one
miscarriage and had recently undergone a spinal treatment that she feared
would increase the risk of birth defects. Kanyok booked an appointment
with an obstetrician, Robert Hadden of Columbia University. She felt
grateful to be in the care of someone who had spent his entire career at
such a distinguished institution.

At first, Kanyok liked Hadden, who had a soft-spoken, fatherly way. With
his prim, grayish beard and wire-rimmed glasses, he reminded her of �a
skinny Santa Claus,� as she later put it. But there was one time when,
heels in the stirrups, she thought she felt a flicker of something moist
on her vagina. During another appointment, Hadden palpated Kanyok�s cervix
with such force that his fingers lifted her from the exam table. She heard
him moan.

If you need help, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-4673
or chat online at online.rainn.org.

Kanyok dismissed Hadden�s strange behavior, focusing on her baby. �You put
yourself aside at that point, right?� she says. �You want to see a
heartbeat. You want to know that the umbilical cord isn�t wrapped around
the neck. And then you want to know that you�re going to get to the finish
line, deliver and go home. That�s it.�

Six weeks after giving birth to a daughter, on a Friday in late June 2012,
Kanyok returned to Columbia�s suite of offices on East 60th Street for a
checkup. She looked idly at her phone as Hadden examined her. He assured
her that all looked good, and the nurse chaperoning the exam left the
room. Hadden started to follow her out. Then he paused, turned, and told
Kanyok that he�d forgotten to check her stitches. He instructed her to lie
down again.

Beneath the paper blanket covering her knees, between her legs, the
assault this time was unmistakable. Kanyok jolted back and saw Hadden�s
face surface, bright red. She froze as he chattered nervously and
performed what he told her was a breast exam. She texted her boyfriend.
�Dr Hadden just licked my vagina,� she typed. �I�m shaking And freaked
out.�

Kanyok�s boyfriend ran to the street and handed $50 to a black-car driver
for the short ride to Hadden�s office. He collected Kanyok and called 911
twice, first on the drive back to their apartment and again once they got
inside. He struggled to articulate what had just happened. �How do you
even verbalize this horrendous act of an OB-GYN from a super-renowned
place like Columbia?� he recalls. He told the 911 operator that his
girlfriend�s doctor had �touched her orally.�

Soon, Kanyok and her boyfriend buzzed up two NYPD officers. As the police
took their statements, Kanyok�s phone rang. It was Hadden. He left a
voicemail, which Kanyok played for the group on speaker.

�Hi Laurie, it�s Dr. Hadden calling,� he said. �It�s like 4:30 on Friday.
You know, I just got word that you called the office and you�re upset and
you�re calling the police. What � what the heck happened? What�s going on?
Please, can we talk? Um. If you can, please just give the office a call
and, you know � or come back and talk face-to-face. I, I, I don�t � I
don�t understand. I just know that � I just got word from the � first,
from the secretary, and then from our office manager and the nurse. So I�m
very upset. I don�t know what�s going on. So please, please call me back.
All right. Take care.�

Listen to the voice message Hadden left Kanyok while she was giving her
statement to the police.

The officers glanced at one another and then at Kanyok. �Fuck him,� she
remembers them saying. �Let�s go get this pig.�

Hadden was arrested at his office later on Friday. Mary D�Alton, the head
of Columbia�s OB-GYN department, went to the clinic when she heard police
were on the scene. Meanwhile, a squad car took Kanyok to St. Luke�s
Hospital for a rape-kit examination, then to meet with a prosecutor. She
returned home around 11 p.m. After a long shower, she peeked in at her
baby. �My daughter�s asleep,� she recalls thinking, �and I am safe.
Everybody is safe.�

Kanyok didn�t know that Hadden had already been released from custody. On
Saturday, police spoke with the department�s administrator, Jeanne
Dellicarri. On Monday, Hadden received a hand-delivered letter from
Columbia. �Dear Bob,� it began. �I write to inform you of the position of
the University and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital with respect to the
allegations against you currently being investigated by the New York City
Police Department.� The letter said that if Hadden had a chaperone with
him while examining patients, and if he complied with all university and
hospital policies, he was free �to resume clinical activities.�

The document was signed by Hadden�s immediate supervisor, John Evanko. He
CC�d D�Alton; Robert Kelly, then the president of NewYork-Presbyterian,
the Columbia-affiliated hospital system in which Hadden was an attending
doctor; and Lee Goldman, then the dean of Columbia�s medical school, where
Hadden was a member of the faculty.

On Tuesday, Hadden was back in the exam room. Columbia let him continue
practicing for another five weeks. Eight patients say he assaulted them in
that time.

Columbia University � where Robert Hadden spent his entire medical career
� has never fully accounted for its role in allowing a predator to operate
unchecked for decades. To date, more than 245 patients have alleged that
Hadden abused them, which by itself could make him one of the most
prolific sexual assailants in New York history. But the total number of
victims may be far higher. On any given day during his two decades of
practice at Columbia, Hadden saw 25 to 40 patients. Tens of thousands came
under his care. A baby girl he delivered grew up to be a teenager he
allegedly assaulted.

Hadden, 65, was sentenced in July to 20 years in federal prison � the
result of a long, arduous process that Columbia often undermined. One of
the country�s most acclaimed private universities was deeply involved in
containing, deflecting and distancing itself from the scandal at every
step.

In agreeing to pay $236.5 million to resolve lawsuits brought by 226 of
Hadden�s victims, Columbia admitted no fault, which is in keeping with
public statements over the years placing the blame for what happened
solely on Hadden. But the university�s own records show that women
repeatedly tried to warn Columbia doctors and staff about Hadden. At least
twice, the fact that Hadden�s bosses in the OB-GYN department knew of the
women�s concerns was acknowledged in writing. They allowed him to continue
practicing.

Once Hadden�s crimes became clear, Columbia worked to tamp down the
crisis. It waited months to tell his patients that he was no longer
working, and then sent matter-of-fact letters that omitted the reason.
After police and local prosecutors began to investigate Hadden in 2012,
Columbia failed to hand over evidence in its possession, despite subpoenas
that compelled it to do so. The university also did not tell the district
attorney when more patients came forward � witnesses who could have
strengthened the case prosecutors were trying to build. The DA found
Columbia�s conduct so concerning that the office launched a criminal
investigation into the university itself, along with the affiliated
hospital where Hadden had admitting privileges. The inquiry found that
Columbia had, by neglecting to place document-retention holds, �intended
to destroy� emails written by Hadden and his former colleagues who had
left the university. The DA found the records because they were
�inadvertently left on an old server.� (Columbia disputes this.)

The local investigation of Hadden ended in a 2016 deal that allowed him to
avoid serving a single day in jail. Cyrus Vance Jr., who was DA at the
time, says that if Columbia had fully cooperated, it might have made a
difference in his office�s decision to accept a plea. �Obviously that did
not happen,� Vance says. His former deputy, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, is
more direct. Columbia, she says, �didn�t have clean hands here. If they
didn�t know, it�s because they chose not to know.� Hadden remained free
until his victims began to go public in such numbers that federal
investigators took up the case in 2020 and secured his conviction.

https://img.assets-d.propublica.org/v5/images/hadden-mug-
shot.png?crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=webp&fp-x=0.5&fp-
y=0.5&h=939&q=80&w=1450&s=c743a4a8d5c5ed07fc4ed0fb5e4d435c
The mug shot from Hadden�s 2020 arrest Credit:Courtesy of the U.S.
Attorney�s Office for the Southern District of New York

In recent decades, several university medical systems have provided cover
for abusive doctors whose victim counts run well into the hundreds.
Columbia�s failures stand out even in this grim company. Unlike at
Michigan State � where Larry Nassar sexually assaulted young gymnasts
under the guise of medical care � no Columbia administrators are known to
have lost their jobs. Unlike at the University of Michigan � where an
athletics department doctor abused mostly male students � Columbia never
commissioned an independent investigation into what happened under its
roof. Unlike at the University of Southern California � where a staff
gynecologist�s abuse led to a billion dollar settlement� Columbia�s
president, Lee Bollinger, did not resign when the enormity of Hadden�s
crimes came to light.