Despite complaints against former USC gynecologist Dr. George Tyndall that started in the 1990s, he continued to treat more than 20,000 female students over the course of nearly 30 years. But the recent surfacing of these allegations has led dozens of former patients to file a USC sexual assault lawsuit.

Many of these young women had not visited a gynecologist before seeing Tyndall at the Engemann Student Health Center. Inexperienced young women would not be completely sure what to expect at their first gynecological visit.

CNN reports that according to patients and nursing staff, Tyndall took advantage of his patients’ naivety by allegedly participating in inappropriate behaviors and making unacceptable, “creepy” comments.

The initial complaints in the 1990s were regarding his propensity to take photographs of the genitals of the student patients. He allegedly said the photos were to prove to worried students that they did not have genital warts. Not long after, he was accused of inappropriately touching women during their pelvic exams and of making sexually harassing comments regarding their figures.

One woman said she only visited Tyndall once more than 20 years ago. He asked her questions about her sex life and said he treated her so brutally that she and others give him the nickname “The Butcher.”

Tyndall faces more than 300 USC sexual assault lawsuits from students who allege he molested them, harassed them and sexually abused them.

USC Sexual Assault Lawsuit Faults School

More than one USC sexual assault lawsuit says the university was complicit in Tyndall’s behavior because it concealed complaints and never acted on any of the reports of Tyndall’s inappropriate, deviant behavior and comments.

Colleagues told the Los Angeles Times that Tyndall’s predatory ways appeared to focus on Chinese students during the doctor’s last few years on campus. Tyndall might have seen students who don’t speak English as their first language–and who would be even less aware of what to expect at an American gynecological visit–to be easier prey.

According to the Los Angeles Times, a nurse became so fed up with Tyndall’s outrageous behavior that she reported him to the USC rape crisis center in 2016.

As a result Tyndall was suspended, but USC failed to inform patients that an internal investigation found the doctor had sexually harassed students. By the summer of 2017, the university gave Tyndall, 71, a buy-out and allowed him to depart in silence.

USC administration officials allegedly discussed with their lawyers whether or not they were legally obligated to report Tyndall to the California Medical Board and were told that they legally were not bound to share the information with the medical board. It wasn’t until Tyndall attempted to get reinstated on March 9, 2018 that USC sent a report to the medical board.

USC’s president, C.L. Max Nikias, left his post earlier this year after thousands of current and former students circulated an online petition insisting he resign for allowing Tyndall to continue practicing for so long. Nikias had been USC’s president since 2010.

The abuse spans generations. If you suffered abuse as a patient of Dr. George Tyndall, you could be eligible to participate in this USC sexual assault lawsuit investigation.

UPDATE: July 2019, the USC, George Tyndall sexual misconduct class action settlement is now open. Click here to file a claim.