It is a shocking scandal involving a betrayal of one of the most sacred bonds in medicine, as one of the senior doctors in New York abused hundreds of women.

Now, Robert Hadden's crime compensation has approached nearly $1 billion after Columbia University and New York Presbyterian Hospital received a new settlement last week and has raised further questions about how he can commit crimes for such a long time.

The latest $750 million deal covers two decades of sexual assault by gynecologists at New York hospitals. His victims have earned more than $200 million from his former employer who have been accused of knowing about his behavior and allowing him to continue to pursue medicine.

"It's a clear message that we'll hold the agency accountable," Laurie Maldonado, a patient with Hadden and was sexually assaulted for 10 years, he said. "Don't protect serial predators; protect your patients."

In 2023, Harden was convicted of attracting patients to travel across states and sentenced to 20 years in prison so that he could sexually abuse them.

From 1987 to 2012, Harden sexually assaulted and abused female patients during dates and childbirth at Columbia University’s Irving Medical Center and New York-Prisby Hospital, according to federal prosecutors. His victims even included some of New York City’s most prominent women, including Evelyn Yang, the wife of former presidential candidate and Andrew Yang, the hopeful mayor of New York.

She said Harden made an emergency delivery for Eva Santos Veloz in 2008 and checked her with a lot of force and his entire fist without gloves.

"It was a very traumatic experience," said Santos Veloz, who was 18 years old at the time who was afraid of revealing sexual assault because of his immigration status.

Maldonado teaches and learns single-parent families and policies, she says she met Hadden from 2003 to 2012, during which time he engages in cosmetic behavior by finding ways to get her to undress and raise inappropriate questions about sex.

“He did use his knowledge to make him seem to be the only doctor,” said Maldonado, who had a miscarriage.

In 2011, two days before she gave birth to her son, Hadden underwent an expansion test, during which he checked her cervix with enough strength to make her cry in pain.

"This should be the happiest and happiest time to be a mother, and you feel that the moment was taken away," Maldonado said. "I feel the hurt and trauma are still inside me."

In 2012, New York police arrested Harden after receiving a call from a patient who said he licked her during the exam. Despite the allegations, Columbia administrators allowed him to continue to practice medicine as long as he checks patients with him and complies with university and hospital policies, according to Propublica.

He continued sexually assaulting patients for five weeks before Colombia suspended him, and later retired. In 2013, the university informed Hadden's patient that he had closed his practice but offered no reason, according to a letter in the ProPublica report.

In 2016, prosecutors agreed that Hadden pleaded guilty to felony and misdemeanors, registered as a sex offender and handed over his medical license, but was not serving his sentence in prison.

Federal prosecutors filed new charges after Hadden abused more women in 2020, which led to convictions and 20 years in prison.

According to news organizations, Columbia University did not apologize until after publishing its report in 2023. This week's settlement comes ahead of the hospital agreed to pay $71 million to 79 patients in 2021 and $165 million to 147 patients in 2022. The new deal offers $750 million to 576 patients.

“It’s been 13 years and I’m grateful to all the clients who stood up to not only take charge of Harden, but more importantly, his apocalypse at Columbia University and New York-Prisby Hospital, said Anthony T Dipietro, the plaintiff’s attorney, said.

A Columbia spokesman responded to the interview request and stated that the university “implemented a multi-pronged program including external investigations, a survivor’s settlement fund” and a new “patient safety policy and program to address Robert Harden’s abuse.”

"We deeply regret the pain suffered by his patients, and this solution is another step in our ongoing work and our commitment to repair the harm and support the survivors. We praise the survivors for their courage to move forward."

A Newyork-Presterian spokesman responded to the request, saying Colombia would “issued all statements on this issue.”

Santos Veloz, who now has three children, calls the nearest huge settlement the "big victory."

"No matter how much coverage they want to cover up, we can work together (Colombia) in some way," said Santos Veloz, who hopes to become an immigration lawyer.

Still, Santos Veloz said she is waiting for Columbia to follow its plans to better protect patients.

"We can get all the money in the world, but if that continues to happen, there is nothing," she said.

Meanwhile, the plaintiff’s attorney Dipietro, now representing hundreds of women against gynecologist Barry Brock of Cedar Sinana Medical Center in Los Angeles, allegedly sexually abused patients and assaulted women at the Darius Part of Weill Cornell Medical Center and Northwell Health, who sexually assaulted Newyork-tererian and were infringed by a woman, including one who had sex.

"Hattons in the world are not problems; they are just a symptom," Dipietro. “The problem is the toxic culture in these healthcare facilities that mask, mask and expose more patients known to serial predators.”