No Prison Time For Gynecologist Who Sexually Assaulted Pregnant Patients

The Upper East Side gynecologist accused of sexually abusing at least six of his patients admitted to two of the abuse instances in court on Tuesday and took a plea deal that will require him to give up his license and register as a sex offender, but won't include any prison time, according to the Manhattan District Attorney's office.

Robert Hadden, 57, worked at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia Hospital until 2012, when two of his former patients filed civil suits against him. Both of those lawsuits wound up being dropped—one because the judge required the plaintiff to use her real name, rather than Jane Doe, and one because the victim's lawyer missed a deadline to serve papers to the other side—but charges piled up over the next year, and in 2014, Hadden was charged with two counts of forcible touching, five counts of criminal sex act, and two counts of sexual abuse. Most of the women he allegedly assaulted were pregnant.

On Tuesday, Hadden pleaded guilty to Criminal Sexual Act in the Third Degree, an E felony, and Forcible Touching, an A misdemeanor. He faced up to four years in prison for the former and up to one year for the latter. Per the terms of his plea agreement, he must surrender his medical license (and agree not to pursue a new one in any other jurisdiction) and register as a level one sex offender. Level one is the lowest risk rating on the sex offender registry and expires after 20 years.

Hadden is still the subject of four civil suits alleging sexual assault, and according to Anthony DiPietro, who is representing women in three of those suits, the overlap between the women involved in the criminal case adjourned yesterday and the ongoing civil suits is minimal. DiPietro also said that Hadden assaulted numerous other women who could not file civil suits because the statute of limitations on their cases had run out.

According to DiPietro, Hadden filed and was approved for disability benefits with New York Presbyterian in 2012, claiming that he had a mental disability that prevented him from being able to do his job.

"Part of the plea agreement that he entered into was that he would surrender his medical license, but since he's basically continuing to collect a paycheck, the only thing that's really been accomplished so far is that he's been granted an early retirement," DiPietro said. "So how can anybody be satisfied with that?"

When contacted, a hospital representative could not confirm or comment on this fact specifically, but said that "we have treated this matter with the utmost seriousness. While we do not comment on matters in the justice system, we can confirm that Dr. Hadden has had no ongoing affiliation with Columbia. He has not practiced medicine here for more than three years and his faculty appointment ended in 2012."

The civil suits against Hadden and New York Presbyterian halted while his criminal case was ongoing, but will now start up again, DiPietro said. To him, the lack of a prison sentence for Hadden came as a surprise.

"I think that the plea agreement was negotiated in a way that would be least detrimental to the hospital," he said, later asking, "Why is there such a double standard? How does he get away with just the suspension of his license, when anybody else would be in jail?"

Hadden's lawyer and the Manhattan DA's office declined to comment on the case.