The New York State Attorney General’s Office has begun investigating how Columbia University let a predatory doctor continue to see patients despite decades of warnings.
“The Attorney General’s Office is conducting a thorough investigation into the institutional response to Robert Hadden’s misconduct,” a spokesperson said in a statement to ProPublica. The agency did not provide further details.
A ProPublica investigation conducted in fall 2023 revealed how Columbia ignored women and ultimately protected Robert Haddena longtime obstetrician-gynecologist at the university. In 2012, Columbia allowed Hadden to continue seeing patients just days after one of them called 911 to report that Hadden had sexually assaulted her.
In early 2023, Hadden was convicted in federal court of sexual abuse of patients. He is currently serving a 20-year sentence. Colombia has paid more than $1 billion for more than 1,000 sexual abuse claims.
After our investigation, Colombia engaged in various reforms, including improving patient safetya $100 million fund for victims and an independent investigation.
But advocates, students and survivors say Columbia must do much more to combat its role in Hadden’s conduct. Four hundred medical students from Colombia recently wrote to university officials demanding disciplinary reviews for administrators who failed to heed warnings about Hadden.
Contrary to other universities who have dealt with serially abusive doctors, no senior Columbia officials appear to have lost their jobs or been disciplined. Dr. Mary D’Alton, who was copied on a letter authorizing Hadden’s return to workremains president of the obstetrics and gynecology department.
D’Alton did not respond to a request for comment.
Columbia declined to comment for this story.
The attorney general’s office has significant powers over New York’s nonprofit organizations, including Columbia. A few years ago, this forced the Trump Foundation Stop. Most recently, she sued the National Rife Association, which then had to enact a series of reforms.
Survivors told ProPublica they were comforted that New York was considering Colombia.
“Accountability is long overdue, especially in light of the Epstein files,” said Evelyn Yang, emphasizing recent revelations that several Columbia subsidiaries had connections to the financier.
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Yang was among at least 8 patients who were assaulted by Hadden after he returned to work. She was seven months pregnant at the time.
Shortly after the publication of our article, more than two years ago, Colombia promised “to carefully examine the circumstances that allowed Hadden’s abuse to continue.”
No report detailing these results has yet been published.
Last week, Columbia acknowledged in a announcement that there “are many questions” about the timing of the investigation she commissioned. He said the report was expected to be released “soon”.
New York State Assemblymember Grace Lee blasted the university’s failure to release the report, telling ProPublica that the university had not taken responsibility for what happened.
“To me, it’s just outrageous that here we are in 2026 and we still have no reporting and no one has been held accountable,” she said.
By comparison, the external investigation into the University of Michigan’s response to crimes committed by its former doctor Robert Anderson lasted about 15 months.
Another Hadden survivor, Marissa Hoechstetter, said the attorney general’s decision to review Columbia provides some relief because the institution has repeatedly failed to do so itself.
“I think institutional accountability is a missing piece to bring about greater change in the fight against gender-based violence,” Hoechstetter said. “I don’t know what will come of this investigation” – referring to the New York investigation – “but it shows that institutions that protect and cover up abusers in order to protect their own people and their reputations will be held accountable.”
Hoechstetter and Yang both advocated for passage of the Adult Survivors Act, a New York state law that opened a one-year window in 2022 during which survivors of sexual assault could file civil lawsuits against their attackers or the institutions that protected them, even after the statute of limitations had expired.
For years, the university had not informed Hadden’s former patients of his misconduct. Finally, in November 2023, just 10 days before the law’s extended window closed, Columbia announced it would send letters to nearly 6,500 patients.
A closed public meeting at the medical school last January helped determine who was behind this lack of notification. “This is really a board decision” because of the potential cost of litigation, Monica Lypson, associate dean for medical education, told students in a recording obtained by ProPublica.
Lypson did not respond to a request for comment.
Separately, the deadline to submit a claim to the Columbia Survivors Settlement Fund, which was established for survivors who do not wish to file a lawsuit, has been extended until April 15.
