Two top administrators associated with Columbia University and NY Presbyterian Hospital have stepped down as a result of their mishandling of Dr. Hadden’s sexual abuse of young women he was treating.
A report found that staff members were discouraged from reporting abuse committed by Robert Hadden, who sexually assaulted hundreds of patients while employed at both institutions. One of the executives, Dr. Mary D’Alton, a leader of the obstetrics and gynecology programs at Columbia and NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia, was Mr. Hadden’s supervisor and vouched for his character even after he was accused of assaulting a patient in 2012 and detained by the police.
The other, Dr. Lee Goldman, a former medical school dean and chief executive of the medical center, signed off on a decision that allowed Mr. Hadden to continue seeing patients after he was detained by the police. Several women have said Mr. Hadden abused them after he was allowed to stay on.
This 2023 report was commissioned as a result of Dr. Hadden’s abuse of dozens of young women he had been treating. Hadden was convicted, lost his medical license, and sentenced to 20 years in prison as a result of the abuse.
