Former University of Southern California gynecologist George Tyndall is facing several new counts of sexual assault in addition to the charges filed against him last year.

Tyndall, 72, treated female students for almost 30 years even though complaints against him were lodged as far back as the 1990s. In June of last year, the L.A. district attorney filed felony charges against the doctor. On July 8, 2020, an additional five counts of sexual penetration of an unconscious person and one count of sexual battery by fraud between the years 2011 and 2015 were added to charges against him.

Tyndall already faced 18 counts of sexual penetration of an unconscious person and 11 counts of sexual battery by fraud for alleged assaults that occurred between 2009 and 2016. He entered a not guilty plea on those charges last year. Alleged victims were between 17 and 29 years old at the time they were assaulted.

Tyndall treated patients at USC until nurse Cindy Gilbert reported allegations against Tyndall to a rape crisis counselor in 2016. She made the call after she realized USC’s administration had failed to follow up on reports from female and staff that Tyndall had taken photos of patients’ genitalia, made lewd comments about their bodies and had touch women inappropriately during examinations. Tyndall was suspended after Gilbert made that report.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the Los Angeles Police Department said their investigation into George Tyndall was the largest sex crimes case that involved only one suspect the department had ever conducted. The district attorney presented evidence of sexual abuse allegations made by 145 former patients whose experiences fell within the 10-year statute of limitations. The department had heard from almost 400 women who shared their accounts of alleged abuse by Tyndall, who treated approximately 20,000 women since he started at USC in 1989.

George Tyndall Class Action Settlement

In February, a $215 million class action settlement was reached with the University of Southern California, its Board of Trustees and Tyndall. Plaintiffs alleged Tyndall assaulted, abused, sexually harassed, committed medical malpractice or otherwise acted in an inappropriate manner while treating female patients at the USC Student Health Center, and that USC failed to respond appropriately to reports of Tyndall’s misconduct. Each class member was eligible to receive a minimum of $2,500 and a maximum of $250,000.

A number of other class action lawsuits have been filed against Tyndall and the university, which has also been rebuked by the U.S. Department of Education (DOE).

In February, the DOE said its investigation into the practices at USC determined the university failed to protect students from sexual abuse for years after allegations against Tyndall were initially made.

USC fired Tyndall in 2017.

“This total and complete failure to protect students is heartbreaking and inexcusable,” said Education Secretary Betsy DeVos in a statement. “Too many at USC turned a blind eye to evidence that Dr. Tyndall was preying on students for years.”

The earliest accusations against Tyndall involved him using a camera to take pictures of women’s genitals. When asked by the female nurse or medical assistant who was in the exam room at the same time in a chaperone capacity why he was taking photos, he said to prove to some of the women that they were free of genital warts and  in other cases, he said it was to document cervical exams to protect him from lawsuits down the road if he ended up facing accusations he had neglected to properly diagnose cervical cancer.

Several generations of women have accused Tyndall of inappropriate touching during exams, making suggestive, lewd or racist comments and of taking unnecessary photos of their private areas. If you suffered such abuses as a patient of George Tyndall, you may be eligible to participate in this sexual assault class action lawsuit investigation.

This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.