0:00

Hi, this is Laura Beal. As I'm sure you know

0:02

from listening to Dr. Death, our in-depth

0:04

reporting has shed light not only on physicians

0:07

who've abused their power, but also

0:09

on the systems that may have enabled them.

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It's my hope that in hearing these stories, you're

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inspired to speak truth to power and put

0:16

pressure on our medical systems to protect

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the most vulnerable among us, which

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is why I'm hoping you'll listen to our latest story.

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Dr. Robert Haddon was the kind of OBGYN

0:26

you recommend to your best friend. Calm,

0:29

knowledgeable, and greeted everyone with a smile,

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but his cheerful demeanor hid an

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ugly truth. Dr. Robert Haddon

0:36

was found to be a sexual predator who

0:39

abused hundreds, potentially thousands

0:41

of patients over his decades-long

0:43

career.

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Once these stories began to see the light of day,

0:47

one question remained. How was

0:49

this physician, who was trusted with

0:51

the lives of so many, able to

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get away with this for so long?

0:56

I'm your host, Laura Beal.

0:58

Exposed, cover-up at Columbia

1:00

University, the new podcast from Wondery,

1:03

is a story about people who are supposed

1:05

to protect us—physicians, prosecutors,

1:07

and the people around them—and it asks, how

1:10

did these institutions fail? What

1:13

does it say about our system? That a doctor

1:15

from a prestigious institution was

1:18

better protected than dozens of patients?

1:20

And how do we seek justice and accountability

1:23

in the future, when it takes a small army

1:25

to bring down just one egregious

1:27

abuser?

1:28

I'm about to play a clip from

1:30

Exposed, cover-up at Columbia

1:32

University. Listen to Exposed on

1:34

the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.

1:37

You can listen to Exposed ad-free

1:40

on Wondery+. Join Wondery Plus

1:42

in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts

1:45

today.

1:46

Just a heads up, this episode

1:48

contains graphic descriptions of sexual

1:51

assault. We felt it was important to

1:53

include these details to understand the reality

1:55

of what survivors experience. But

1:58

as you'll see, this is a story about

1:59

much more than that. If you or

2:02

someone you know is a survivor of sexual

2:04

assault, you're not alone and will

2:06

share a list of resources at the end of the

2:08

episode. Please take care

2:10

while listening. Just

2:22

after lunch one Friday afternoon, Lori

2:25

Kanyak walked into a Columbia University

2:28

Medical Center on the Upper East Side

2:30

of Manhattan. She

2:32

was here for a postpartum exam. She

2:35

stepped into the elevator and went up to her obstetrician's

2:38

office. When it was her turn to be

2:40

seen, a nurse showed her to the exam room

2:42

and took her vitals. Lori changed

2:45

into a hospital gown and waited. Her

2:48

pregnancy had been considered high risk.

2:51

She was almost 40, she had previously

2:53

miscarried and her years as a

2:55

professional dancer had left her with back

2:58

injuries. She wanted the best

3:00

possible care. A friend

3:02

of mine had worked for

3:04

years at Columbia Hospital and she

3:07

and a lot of her other friends had been patients

3:09

of Dr. Robert Haddon and she said,

3:11

hey, why don't you check him out? He's very good. And

3:14

Columbia was one of the top medical

3:16

names in the country. I

3:18

felt lucky that I had that

3:21

hospital carrying me through this. And

3:27

now here she was six weeks after

3:29

delivering a beautiful baby girl. It

3:32

was supposed to be a routine checkup. While

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Lori was lying on the exam table, scrolling

3:37

through her phone, enjoying a few hours out

3:39

of the house without a baby

3:40

to care for, Dr. Robert

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Haddon

3:42

finally stepped into the room like

3:45

he always did, wearing his crisp white

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coat with his glasses and prim

3:49

gray beard. She's a skinny

3:51

Santa Claus, a Cagranpah. He

3:54

jumped right in with his usual chit chat.

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blah blah blah, wow you look good,

4:02

you lost a lot of weight.

4:03

Well

4:06

I'm a dancer, I'm at my fighting weight

4:08

again, like we don't mess around kind of thing.

4:11

A nurse was with him, he performed a breast exam

4:13

and a pelvic exam. You're looking

4:16

good, everything's good, nurse leaves. Dr.

4:18

Haddon started to follow the nurse out. It

4:21

stopped. Oh I forgot

4:24

your hemorrhoids. Oh

4:27

and you have stitches, I thought you just

4:29

saw them. They were in the examination

4:32

room, alone, and that's when I

4:34

knew this was not gonna go very

4:36

well. She froze.

4:40

In that moment she had a flashback to

4:42

the first time Dr. Haddon made her feel

4:45

uncomfortable. She

4:47

was at the end of her second trimester lying

4:49

on the exam table, unable to see

4:51

over her pregnant belly. I

4:54

had this cool sensation on

4:56

my area and I was like that

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didn't feel like an examination.

5:01

Here I am 38 years old, I

5:04

know what it feels like. That

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night she told her partner what happened. He

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thought it was just the hormones and

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she told herself to refocus on what

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mattered most. I was

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sort of like okay the goal here is

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to deliver a healthy child. You

5:20

put yourself aside, you want to

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know that the baby's still there, you want to see a heartbeat,

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you want to know that the umbilical cord isn't wrapped

5:27

around their necks. Then another

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moment flashed in front of her. I

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was really pregnant, like

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Walrus pregnant.

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It was right before she was due, she

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went in for a dilation check

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and he said this might

5:44

hurt a little bit and you're going to bleed after. The

5:47

force of the dilation check lifted

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Lori's body off the table to

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the point where I was holding the sides

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of the table with my hands. She

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heard him moan.

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She had actually gone into labor and

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another physician gave her a dilation

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check that she'd barely even felt. It

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briefly dawned on her that what hadn't had

6:09

done might not have been normal. And

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now, alone with him in the examination

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room, Lori's suspicion turned

6:17

into sheer panic. It

6:20

was like in that moment, all the two

6:22

incidences prior to me delivering her were

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culminating in that moment right there.

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He told her to lay back down. I'm

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naked in a room with a man. What

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was going to happen if I caused a

6:35

scene?

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I laid down. I had my phone in my hand

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and he said, go ahead, put your feet in stirrups.

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So I did. And he grabbed one of

6:44

those like paper blanket

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things that they have and

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he put it over my knees and he pulled it

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hot. So if you can

6:53

imagine like your knees are up, it

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formed a bridge like a wall. And

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all of a sudden his head dipped down and

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he licked my vagina. And

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I jumped up and his face

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turned beet red. Dr. Haddon began

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talking as though nothing had happened. You

7:12

know those cartoons where you see the lips

7:14

moving but you'd hear slow motion. Lori

7:17

frantically texted her partner. I

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said, Dr. Haddon just licked my vagina. Her

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partner paid an off duty cab driver 50 bucks

7:25

to get him to the building on a 60th Street.

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Meanwhile, Dr. Haddon was still talking

7:32

and he said to me, stop in my

7:34

office and get

7:36

birth control. I'm like, okay,

7:39

great.

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He finally left the exam room. Lori

7:44

grabbed her clothes. I was somewhere

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between shock, hyperventilation

7:49

and sort of like, I

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gotta get out of here. In my head I just kept

7:53

saying I gotta get out of here. she

8:00

could. But behind her in the hallway,

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she heard Dr. Haddon following her, calling

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out, Lori, you forgot your prescription.

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She panicked and faked a phone call

8:10

from the babysitter, insisting she

8:12

had to leave. And I get downstairs

8:16

and the dad was there.

8:19

911 operator 1520,

8:22

where's your emergency? I

8:24

see her delivered her OBGYN

8:27

and he basically did

8:30

something inappropriate to her.

8:34

Okay, did he? I just went up there

8:37

and took her from there and brought her home.

8:39

Did he harass her, sir, or what? No,

8:42

he basically touched

8:44

her orally. Okay.

8:50

How long ago did this happen?

8:51

It's been, you know, about

8:53

about half an hour to 40 minutes. Okay.

9:03

And I hope that

9:05

no little girl ever

9:08

has to feel that,

9:10

because that is being

9:14

trapped in

9:18

a prison that you

9:21

keep getting out, like you just

9:23

want to get out.

9:25

And that's the part that never goes

9:28

away.

9:41

The NYPD met Lori and her partner

9:43

at their apartment. And while she was giving

9:45

her statement, Dr. Haddon called

9:48

her. Yeah, hi, Lori. It's

9:50

Dr. Haddon calling. It's like 4.30 on Friday.

9:53

He started in his very

9:55

mild tone of voice. And

9:58

then he proceeded to get... more

10:00

and more agitated.

10:01

What the heck happened? What's

10:04

going on? I'm very

10:07

upset. I don't know what's going

10:09

on. So please, if... Please

10:11

call me back or... Alright.

10:14

The cops

10:14

glanced at one another. The

10:17

one detective said,

10:18

Fuck him, let's go get this

10:20

pig. I was like, yeah, okay. I've got people on

10:22

my team.

10:23

There's people going to bat with me. And

10:26

they did.

10:28

Until they didn't. Dr.

10:32

Robert Haddon was arrested

10:34

at his office. The police

10:36

report shows that at least two Columbia

10:39

University administrators were aware

10:41

that he'd been taken into custody, including

10:43

the department chair, Mary Dalton, and

10:46

administrator Jeanne De La Cary, who

10:49

also left a message for Lori that afternoon.

10:53

I had heard that you had an incident

10:55

that happened that you were unhappy about

10:58

today. That

11:00

was Friday, June 29, 2012. On

11:06

Tuesday, Dr. Robert Haddon

11:08

went back to work.

11:14

You can listen to Exposed, cover-up

11:17

at Columbia University, ad-free on Wondery+.

11:21

Get started with your free trial at Wondery.com.