On Monday, a federal judge announced he would sentence a former gynecologist to two decades in prison for the sexual abuse of scores of patients for over two decades at prestigious New York hospitals.
Judge Richard M. Berman made the announcement at a sentencing hearing for Robert Hadden that will continue on Tuesday, when Hadden is expected to speak.
The 64-year-old Hadden has been in custody since his January conviction on four counts of enticing victims to travel interstate so he could sexually abuse them
A 20-year sentence would be four times the term that the judge concluded federal sentencing guidelines recommend. The duration drew a complaint from defense attorney Deirdre von Dornum.
“Here you have somebody who has already lost everything, and you’re giving him effectively a life sentence,” Dornum said.
Berman said the case was like none he’d seen before, hence the sentence. He said it involved “outrageous, horrific, beyond extraordinary, depraved sexual abuse.” He noted that the government has reported that at least 245 women, among thousands he treated during his career, have claimed they were abused by Hadden.
