More than 70 women, including two teenagers, have now come forward accusing notorious Manhattan doctor Robert Hadden of sexual assault.
More than 70 women, including two teenagers, have now come forward accusing notorious Manhattan doctor Robert Hadden of sexual assault
Dozens of women have joined the lawsuit against Hadden, after Andrew Yang’s wife revealed in January she was sexually assaulted by the former OB-GYN of Columbia University Medical Center in New York.
Evelyn Yang, wife of the former Democratic presidential candidate, spoke out last month about the alleged sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of Hadden while she was pregnant with her first child.
Hadden stood accused in a sex-abuse case involving six patients back in 2016 but reached a deal, pleading guilty to two counts of criminal sexual act in the third degree and forcible touching.
He was struck off the medical register but did not serve any time behind bars.
He also received no probation or community service.
Following Yang’s interview with CNN revealing the abuse, more than 40 new victims have come forward accusing the disgraced doctor and slamming the Manhattan District Attorney’s office for failing to come down heavier on the sex offender.
Evelyn Yang, wife of the former Democratic presidential candidate, spoke out last month about the alleged sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of Hadden while she was pregnant with her first child
Andrew Yang said he was ‘extraordinary proud’ of his wife Evelyn (pictured together) and no one deserves to be treated as she was.
Attorney Anthony DiPietro, who filed a civil suit against Hadden and Columbia University in 2019, said he will add the latest victims to the civil suit, bringing the total number of plaintiffs to about 70.
Two of the victims were children, aged 15 and 16, at the time of the alleged abuse, he said.
One of his accusers, Emilia Heckman, a fashion model in her late 20s at the time, told CNN that Hadden had shown her pictures of his family and made her feel ‘comfortable’ with him when she was his patient.
He soon began making inappropriate questions or comments, such as asking her about her sex life and saying her boyfriend ‘is so lucky to have you’, said Heckman, now 36.
Hadden then sexually assaulted her during an appointment in 2012, she said.
Heckman said Hadden told the nurse to go home, leaving her alone with her alleged abuser.
One of Hadden’s accusers, Emilia Heckman said he asked inappropriate questions and comments, such as asking her about her sex life and saying her boyfriend ‘is so lucky to have you’
Heckman said she quickly fled Hadden’s practice after he allegedly assaulted her, and she never returned
Hadden allegedly licked Heckman’s genitals, while she had her feet in stirrups and her legs draped for a medical exam.
‘At first it was gloves on, and all of that,’ Heckman said. ‘And then it transitioned to no gloves, a tongue and a beard. … And I recoiled.’
Heckman said she quickly fled and never returned.
Another accuser, Jessica Chambers, now a substitute elementary-school teacher in Wyoming, said she was a 23-year-old student at the City College of New York and had never had a gynecological exam before when she was assaulted by Hadden in 2004.
She said he had started off ‘friendly’ but made her feel uncomfortable as the exam went on for a long time, during which a chaperone was present.
‘He had his fingers inside of me — I couldn’t see if he was wearing gloves,’ she said.
‘And he had an extended conversation with me while he had his fingers inside of me. … I remember wanting to get out of that position.’
Chambers said they talked about how she’d just broken up with her boyfriend and Hadden had asked her asking her if she was able to climax and how.
‘I’m thinking it’s very weird. But ‘he’s a doctor, we’re in Columbia — clearly what’s going on here must be normal and natural,’ she told CNN.
When the chaperone left the room, Hadden grabbed her leg and then began touching her vagina with ungloved hands while telling her how arousal happens.
‘He had me somewhat stuck,’ she said. ‘I didn’t know whether it was just me being naive and I didn’t want to do anything that would be weird.’
Chambers said she came forward after she read about the sexual assault Yang suffered and recognized her abuser as her own.
Yang opened up about her sexual assault in an interview with CNN in January.
She said she was encouraged to speak out after seeing the positive reception she and her husband had been getting on the campaign trail by being open about their son’s autism.
Hadden, pictured outside his home, stood accused in a sex-abuse case involving six patients back in 2016 but reached a deal, pleading guilty to two counts of criminal sexual act in the third degree and forcible touching. He lost his medical licence but served no prison time
‘Something about being on the trail and meeting people and seeing the difference that we’ve been making already has moved me to share my own story about it, about sexual assault,’ she told CNN.
Yang said she first began seeing Hadden in New York in early 2012. As the months went on, Yang said, Hadden began asking her inappropriate questions about her sexual activity, and would spend longer conducting examinations.
When she was seven months pregnant, Yang said, she believed her appointment was done and she was getting ready to leave when the doctor told her abruptly that he thought she might need a cesarean section. She said Hadden pulled her to him and undressed her, then used his fingers to examine her internally.
‘I knew it was wrong. I knew I was being assaulted,’ she said.
But Yang said she ‘just kind of froze’ and didn’t react. ‘I remember trying to fix my eyes on a spot on the wall and just trying to avoid seeing his face as he was assaulting me, just waiting for it to be over,’ she said.
After the doctor left the room, she left the practice and didn’t return.
Yang said she was initially too afraid to tell anyone what had happened.
She said she blamed herself, thinking she must have done something to ‘invite this kind of behavior.’
Months later, after the couple’s son was born, Yang got a letter in the mail saying Hadden had left the practice.
Curious, she looked him up online and saw that another woman had made a police report accusing him of assaulting her.
She said she realized then that she wasn’t to blame for his actions.
‘This was a serial predator, and he just picked me as his prey,’ she said.
She said only then was she able to reveal the alleged abuse to her husband.
Andrew Yang said he was ‘extraordinary proud’ of his wife and no one deserves to be treated as she was.
‘When victims of abuse come forward, they deserve our belief, support, and protection,’ Yang said.
‘I hope that Evelyn’s story gives strength to those who have suffered and sends a clear message that our institutions must do more to protect and respond to women.’
Another of his accusers, Marissa Hoechstetter was instrumental in having a New York law put in place that allows parents to have the name of a doctor removed from a child’s birth certificate if they lose their medical licence
Hoechstetter (pictured with NYC council speaker Corey Johnson) called for Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance to resign for ‘failing to protect victims of sexual assault’ after Hadden reached a plea deal for sexual assault charges in 2016
Evelyn Yang’s revelations led to more women coming forward accusing the doctor of sexual assault.
Forty women have brought their allegations to DiPietro in the last month alone, with many want Hadden to be taken to trial again feeling let down by the justice system’s previous handling of allegations against the disgraced doctor.
‘He got something that sounds [more] like an orchestrated retirement than an actual sentence for a serial sexual predator,’ DiPietro said.
The lawsuit also claims that medical assistants who worked with the doctor knew of the abuse but didn’t intervene because of a power imbalance and lack of training, CNN said.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance has come under fire for failing to protect victims of sexual assault.
Protesters took to the streets of New York in January calling for his resignation, saying Hadden’s plea deal was one in a long list of wealthy, white men getting away with sexual assualt.
Hadden, 61, has denied the assault allegations in court documents, aside from the two counts in his plea deal.