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EVELYN YANG’S #METOO MOMENT: 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.
Good morning and welcome to the Washington Examiner’s Daily on Healthcare! This newsletter is written by senior healthcare reporter Kimberly Leonard (@LeonardKL) and healthcare reporter Cassidy Morrison (@CassMorrison94). You can reach us with tips, calendar items, or suggestions at [email protected]. If someone forwarded you this email and you’d like to receive it regularly, you can subscribe here.
CORRECTION: We mistakenly reported Thursday in Daily on Healthcare that America’s Health Insurance Plans wants the Supreme Court to take up a challenge to Obamacare this year. AHIP asked the Supreme Court to take up the case, but didn’t take a position on timing.
MEDICAL AND CONSUMER GROUPS WANT SCOTUS TO TAKE UP OBAMACARE CHALLENGE: In contrast to AHIP, organizations including the American Hospital Association, AARP, the American Heart Association, and the American Diabetes Association want the Supreme Court to expedite Texas v. Azar.
PLANNED PARENTHOOD TO SHELL OUT $45M IN BATTLEGROUND STATES: Planned Parenthood is launching a new $45 million ad campaign to encourage voters to cast their ballots for candidates who support abortion rights in local, state, and federal elections this year. Planned Parenthood intends to target voters in nine battleground states, according to CBS, including Florida, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin — all swing states that Trump won in 2016.
SUSAN B. ANTHONY LIST PLANS $52M FOR 2020: Anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony List and its partner super PAC have budgeted $52 million for battleground states, like Planned Parenthood, through “boots on the ground” canvassing, voter contact mail, phone calls, and ads.
MILLENNIALS SKEPTICAL OF FLU SHOTS: Of the 55% of millennials who didn’t get a flu shot this year, 61% of them believe at least one claim made by anti-vaccine activists. Many Americans — about 20% of men and 5% of women — don’t feel the flu is severe enough to merit vaccination. “I personally have seen a lot of mistrust around the flu shot in my one-on-one interactions taking care of patients,” Dr. Alexa Mieses, a family physician in Durham, North Carolina told NBC.
THE DEA IS TRYING TO STOP DRUG USE ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES: The Drug Enforcement Administration released a “road map” for college health professionals to work on combating drug use on campuses. The DEA’s program, Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse Among College Students, is meant to be a “how to” guide for analyzing the scope of the drug presence on campus and planning measures to prevent it from spreading. “With vaping, marijuana use, and the abuse of prescription drugs on the rise, it is critical we continue to do everything we can to reach at-risk populations such as college students,” said DEA Acting Administrator Uttam Dhillon.
VAPING INJURY CASES ARE UP: A total of 2,668 people have been hospitalized with vaping-related lung injuries, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. So far, 60 people have died across 27 states and D.C.
The Rundown
The Hill Cities, states sue over planned Trump cuts to food stamps
Stat Airing frustrations with pharma, a Republican FTC commissioner just endorsed Medicare negotiation
CNN A second person has died from a new SARS-like virus in China
Kansas City Star They paid health premiums for months, but say their JoCo employer kept the cash
Kaiser Health News Medi-Cal’s very big decade
Calendar
THURSDAY | Jan. 23
1 p.m. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report and webinar on “Addressing the Dual Epidemic of Opioid Use Disorder and Infectious Diseases.” Details.
FRIDAY | Jan. 24
March for Life. Details.
