Trial begins for ex-New York doctor accused of sexual abuse

NEW YORK (AP) — Federal prosecutors in New York began laying out their case Monday against Robert Hadden, a former gynecologist accused of sexually abusing scores of patients over nearly two decades, including the wife of former presidential candidate Andrew Yang.

A grand jury indictment said Hadden sexually abused patients from 1993 through at least 2012 while he was working at two prestigious Manhattan hospitals, Columbia University Irving Medical Center and New York-Presbyterian Hospital.

The institutions have already agreed to pay more than $236 million to settle civil claims by more than 200 former patients.

The federal case against Hadden is focused on only a few of those women. Prosecutors say Hadden invited his victims to meet with him alone in his office, where he used the trust and rapport he developed with patients to engage in increasingly abusive conduct under the guise that it was legitimate medical care.

That included inappropriate and unnecessary breast and pelvic exams.

In her opening statement to the jury, defense lawyer Deirdre Von Dornum acknowledged that Hadden had hurt women. The former doctor, now 64, pleaded guilty to state charges seven years ago, admitting that he had sexually abused patients.

But Von Dornum asked the jury to acquit Hadden of the federal charges accusing him of enticing women to cross state lines to be abused, saying the doctor didn't know patients had traveled from places including New Jersey and Nevada to see him.

“The allegations are awful and shocking," she said, warning jurors that she was not encouraging them to feel sorry for Hadden, but asking them to listen carefully to the women who will testify about being abused and hear what they say.

She said the “question is not whether inappropriate activity or sexual abuse...