Daily on Healthcare: Evelyn Yang’s #metoo moment
Subscribe today to the Washington Examiner magazine and get Washington Briefing: politics and policy stories that will keep you up to date with what's going on in Washington. SUBSCRIBE NOW: Just $1.00 an issue!
The wife of Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang said Thursday night that she was sexually assaulted by her OB-GYN while she was pregnant.
Appearing on CNN, Evelyn Yang accused Dr. Robert Hadden, who was working at Columbia University, of first asking her too many questions about her sex life and examining her too frequently. Then one day, she said, he suddenly grabbed and undressed her, and examined her internally without gloves.
"I just kind of froze like a deer in headlights, just frozen,” she said. “I knew it was happening. I could feel it. I remember trying to fix my eyes on a spot on the wall and just trying to avoid seeing his face as he was assaulting me, just waiting for it to be over."
Hadden has denied the accusations through his attorney.
Evelyn Yang was only able to discuss the incident with her husband after she learned that Hadden had left his practice and that another woman had accused him of sexual assault. Later, she found out several other women had come forward and she testified against him in court, but he arrived at a plea deal where he lost his medical license and had to register as a sex offender. Now, she and 31 other women are suing Columbia University’s hospital system.
Though this is the first time that Yang is identifying herself publicly, the Columbia case has received widespread attention, and mirrors the case of Larry Nassar, who was convicted of sexually assaulting young girls as a sports doctor for the Olympics and Michigan State University.
The problem appears to be even more widespread. Investigations by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Associated Press have revealed cases where doctors were not held accountable for sexual misbehavior and patients have reported cases where hospitals ignored reports of sexual assault, handled them quietly, or failed to report them to the police or to medical boards. Doctors disciplined in one state can still go on to practice in another.
In recent years, states have passed laws to prevent the abuse of patients. They’ve considered requiring chaperones in doctor’s offices, training on how staff can spot and report abuse, and penalizing those who don’t report. California in 2018 became the first state to require doctors to disclose to patients before an appointment whether they have ever been disciplined for hurting patients.
---------
Bunch of other stuff in there, but it's boring.
