Gynecologist convicted of sexually abusing dozens of patients faces 20 years in prison

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge said Monday he plans to sentence a former gynecologist to 20 years in prison for sexually abusing dozens of patients over two decades at prestigious New York hospitals.

Judge Richard M. Berman announced his intention at a sentencing hearing for Robert Hadden that continues Tuesday, when Hadden is expected to speak after some legal issues are resolved. The judge was expected to impose the sentence after the hearing resumed unless he changes his mind.

Hadden, 64, has been in prison since his January conviction on four counts of enticing victims to cross state lines so he could sexually abuse them.

A 20-year prison sentence would be four times the approximately four to five year sentence the judge recommends in federal sentencing guidelines.

The guidelines are calculated on a case-by-case basis to ensure that people convicted of specific crimes are generally treated equally. Judges can go below or above the guidelines, but must explain why.

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“Outrageous, terrible, beyond extraordinary”

The judge said the crimes Hadden committed while working at hospitals such as Columbia University Irving Medical Center and New York-Presbyterian Hospital merited a longer sentence.

Berman said the case was like no other he had seen before and involved “outrageous, horrific, beyond extraordinary, depraved sexual abuse.” He noted that the government reported that at least 245 of the thousands of women he treated claimed they were abused by Hadden.

The judge’s announcement of his sentencing plans sparked a complaint from defense attorney Deirdre von Dornum. She said it was too hard.

“Here you have someone who has already lost everything, and you’re essentially giving him a life sentence,” Dornum said.

The lawyer said her client suffered harsh conditions at a federal prison in Brooklyn, where inmates threatened and blackmailed him into handing over his commissary money.

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Pushing for the maximum sentence

Nine victims spoke during the first phase of the sentencing hearing late last month. Several were present at Monday’s hearing but were not invited to speak again.

At trial, women testified graphically that Hadden repeatedly forced them to undergo sexualized breast exams and touched their vaginas in ways that appeared to be sexual rather than medical. They asked the judge to give him the maximum prison sentence possible.

In 1987, Hadden began working at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York, which later became New York-Presbyterian Hospital. The institutions have agreed to pay more than $236 million to settle civil claims from more than 200 former patients.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Robert Hadden sentencing: Gynecologist faces 20 years in prison