Columbia College has agreed to a $750 million settlement with 576 sufferers of a former physician who sexually abused them whereas working on the college.
In 2023, a ProPublica investigation, printed with New York Journal, revealed how Columbia had ignored girls, undermined prosecutors and finally protected a predator. Obstetrician-gynecologist Robert Hadden labored on the college for 20 years regardless of a long time of complaints about him.
The college had even cleared Hadden to see sufferers three days after he was arrested when a affected person known as 911 to report that he had assaulted her throughout a postpartum examination. College higher-ups had been knowledgeable of the arrest however allowed Hadden to proceed working for an additional 5 weeks. Sufferers he noticed throughout that point additionally reported being assaulted.
The newest settlement, mixed with payouts from earlier instances, signifies that Columbia can have paid out greater than $1 billion to resolve claims of sexual abuse by Hadden. Columbia additionally stated that it has now settled greater than 1,000 claims of sexual abuse by Hadden’s former sufferers.
Hadden was convicted of intercourse crimes in federal courtroom in January 2023 and is now serving a 20-year jail sentence.
Laurie Kanyok, the affected person who known as 911, stated the settlement is bittersweet. “It’s emotional as a result of it’s been 13 years,” she instructed ProPublica.
She additionally stated that monetary compensation doesn’t quantity to justice.
“I’m grateful that I’m concerned on this,” Kanyok stated. “On the similar time, I really feel like I need to see folks held accountable and never simply any individual’s insurance coverage firm or checkbook.”
Not like in different high-profile instances involving sexual abuse by docs, no directors from Columbia have been fired or have stepped down on account of the Hadden case.
In an announcement, Columbia acknowledged failing to guard Hadden’s sufferers. “We deeply remorse the ache that his sufferers suffered, and this settlement is one other step ahead in our ongoing work and dedication to restore hurt and help survivors,” the assertion stated. “We commend the survivors for his or her bravery in coming ahead.”
The newest settlement places Columbia on par with the biggest payout ever by a college to settle sexual abuse claims. In 2021, the College of Southern California agreed to pay $1.1 billion to survivors of George Tyndall, a college gynecologist who abused 1000’s of girls.
Anthony DiPietro, the lawyer who dealt with a lot of the Columbia claims, stated the lesson from this week’s settlement is evident: Establishments “can not proceed to cowl up sexual exploitation and abuse by their docs as a result of they’re going to be held accountable.”
Weeks after ProPublica’s investigation, Columbia introduced that it could arrange a $100 million settlement fund for sufferers who didn’t need to file civil fits. Survivors have about one other week, till Might 15, to submit a declare.
As a part of the identical announcement, Columbia additionally stated it could notify all of Hadden’s practically 6,500 former sufferers of the physician’s crimes and that it could fee an exterior investigation to look at failures that allowed the abuse to go on for therefore lengthy.
Requested in regards to the standing of that investigation, which was introduced a 12 months and a half in the past, the college stated it’s ongoing. Columbia didn’t give a time-frame for the report’s completion.
