A doctor abused her. His name is on her child’s birth certificate

To register her twin daughters for kindergarten a few years ago, Marissa Hoechstetter needed their birth certificates. It had been quite a while since she had last looked closely at them, and when she pulled the papers out, what she saw made her stomach turn, she said.

There, on a document that legally and symbolically marked the start of her children’s lives, was the name of a gynecologist in New York City who she said sexually abused her, Robert Hadden.

“I felt sick,” Hoechstetter said. “I was like, oh my God. Why is his name there?”

Her realisation ignited a yearslong effort that culminated in a New York City law, which went into effect Jan 1, allowing parents to remove a doctor’s name from their children’s birth certificates if the doctor has had his or her medical license revoked for misconduct.

The legislation stemmed from Hoechstetter’s experiences with her doctor, Hadden, who has been accused by multiple patients of sexual abuse, including Evelyn Yang, whose husband, Andrew Yang, is a Democratic presidential candidate.

The bill was passed in March but is now in the spotlight after Evelyn Yang said publicly for the first time, in an interview with CNN, that she was assaulted by the same gynecologist.

Yang’s interview Thursday night also renewed attention on a plea deal Hadden struck with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office that allowed him to avoid prison time. The agreement has been criticised as too lenient by many of Hadden’s accusers, including Hoechstetter.

He lost his license in the plea deal in 2016. He also pleaded guilty to a single felony count of criminal sexual act in the third degree and one misdemeanour count of forcible touching.

Councilman Mark Levine, who sponsored the new city law, said he hoped the new policy might give some comfort to women who said they were sexually abused by the doctors responsible for delivering their children.

“This is a small but consequential way for government to validate what happened to them, on something that has enormous symbolic power,” Levine said. “It’s sort of a founding document for your child’s life.”

For Hoechstetter, seeing her doctor’s name on her daughters’ birth certificates was a painful reminder of how what should have been one of the most joyous times in her life was marred by a traumatic one, she said.

Hoechstetter has said in interviews — and in a lawsuit that she and 29 other women, including Yang, brought against Hadden — that he performed prolonged, inappropriate breast examinations and made inappropriate sexual comments about her. Lawyers for Hadden could not be immediately reached for comment.

Last year, she told The New York Times that in one visit, as she was in his exam room with her feet in stirrups, he put his tongue on her vagina.

Adding to the pain was the fact that Hoechstetter’s children were delivered by cesarean section.

“His hands cut me open, reached inside my body and were the first hands to touch my children,” she said. “That’s an incredible position of privilege that I gave this person.”

Hoechstetter did not want a tangible reminder of her experience on her children’s birth certificates.

First, she contacted the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, which told her that she would need a court order to get Hadden’s name removed. A lawyer told her that it would be a costly, time-consuming process that was not guaranteed to succeed.

So Hoechstetter contacted Levine, who leads the City Council’s health committee. He was moved by her story and agreed to take up her cause.

“These women should not have to undergo further indignity after what they’ve already suffered,” he said. “The least a bureaucracy can do is treat them with respect and make this easier.”

The law eventually passed the City Council, 47-0, but initially, it was met with some pushback from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

At a hearing, Gretchen Van Wye, the city’s assistant commissioner for the Bureau of Vital Statistics, expressed concerns that places outside New York City would question the integrity of a redacted birth certificate.

On Friday, Van Wye said that her concerns had since been addressed.

“We came up with a process that we are confident preserves the integrity of the birth certificate,” she said.

Doctors’ names are included only on long-form birth certificates in New York City. Under the new law, parents seeking a removal have to pay a small fee and provide a printout from the state Office of Professional Medical Conduct’s website showing a doctor lost his or her license because of misconduct.

The Daily Beast wrote about the legal change Thursday, before Yang’s interview.

Hoechstetter has already submitted her paperwork and is eagerly awaiting her new certificates. So far, she said, she has spoken to about a dozen women who were also planning to make the change.

“That is what motivates me,” Hoechstetter said. “I know that what might seem like a crazy idea to somebody — I’m not the only person who sees that and wants that.”

© 2019 New York Times News Service