Evelyn Yang the wife of Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang in an interview televised on Thursday, said, that the incident of assault happened in 2012. Yang was reluctant to share it with anyone and afraid to tell it to even his close and trusted ones. She and 31 other women are now suing the doctor and hospital system, saying they conspired and enabled the crimes. Yang said she was encouraged to speak out after seeing the positive reception she and her husband had been getting on the campaign trail by being open about their son’s autism.
“Something about being on the trail and meeting people and seeing the difference that we’ve been making already has moved me to share my own story about sexual assault,” she said.
Yang said she first began seeing Dr. Robert Hadden in New York in early 2012. As the months went on, Yang said, Hadden began asking her inappropriate questions about her sexual activity, and he spent more time conducting examinations.
When she was seven months pregnant, Yang said, she believed her appointment was done and she was getting ready to leave when the doctor told her abruptly that he thought she might need a cesarean section. She said Hadden pulled her to him and undressed her, then used his fingers to examine her internally.
“I knew it was wrong. I knew I was being assaulted,” she said.
But Yang said she “just kind of froze” and didn’t react. “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,” she expressed. After the doctor left the room, she left the practice and didn’t return.
Yang said she initially didn’t tell anyone what had happened to her. She said she blamed herself, thinking she must have done something to “invite this kind of behavior.”
Few months after giving birth to her first baby, Yang got a letter in the mail saying Hadden had left the practice. Curious, she looked him up online and saw that another woman had made a police report accusing him of assaulting her.
She said she realized then that she wasn’t to blame for his actions.
She said only then was she able to manage the courage to tell about the abuse to her husband.
In a statement Thursday, Andrew Yang said he was “extraordinary proud” of his wife and no one deserves to be treated as she was.
“When victims of abuse come forward, they deserve our belief, support, and protection,” Yang said. “I hope that Evelyn’s story gives strength to those who have suffered and sends a clear message that our institutions must do more to protect and respond to women.”
He later tweeted, “I love my wife very very much.”
Yang and 31 other women are now suing Columbia University, where Hadden worked, along with its affiliates and the doctor itself, saying they “actively concealed, conspired, and enabled” Hadden’s crimes. The lawsuit claims that medical assistants who worked with the doctor knew of the abuse but didn’t intervene because of a power imbalance and lack of training, the reports mentioned.
Hadden has denied the additional allegations in court papers. Columbia University and the hospital system are now fighting the lawsuit on procedural grounds.
This case has highlighted the common practice of victims being caught by ‘guilt trip’ which encourages the culprit to commit these crimes again. Victims blaming themselves for their assault is a common practice which often leads to wrong adjustments towards such kind of behaviour.
