US university to pay over $1 billion in gynecologist sex abuse settlement

LOS ANGELES - University of Southern California reached a $842.4 million settlement approved a Los Angeles court, lawyer Gloria Allred said in a statement, on top of $215 million agreed to in a 2018 federal class action case.

According to Allred, it is the "largest sexual abuse settlement against a university in US history."

George Tyndall has been accused of abuse by hundreds of female patients during medical examinations over the course of his 30-year career, in a major scandal that has engulfed the university.

Accusations against Tyndall, ranging from inappropriate touching to rape, date as far back as 1990. The youngest alleged victim was aged 17.

The doctor, now 74, has been accused of taking photos of patients' genitals, groping their breasts and making lewd remarks about their physiques, as well as racist and homophobic comments.

He allegedly targeted minority students -- including many from the university's large Asian student population.

Hundreds of former patients sued the university for failing to adequately respond to the allegations against Tyndall, claiming that the institution was aware of the doctor's actions but continued to allow him access to students.

Tyndall was not investigated by USC officials until 2016, and was allowed to retire under an amicable agreement with the university, the financial details of which have not been disclosed. 

USC reached an "agreement in principle" to pay $215 million in a federal class action case in 2018, but 702 more plaintiffs opted out of that settlement and sued in state court.

"The sheer size of this settlement is testimony to the enormous harm that the depraved action of George Tyndall caused our clients," said law firm Manly, Stewart & Finaldi, which represents 234 of the plaintiffs, in a statement. 

"It also speaks to the culpability of USC in employing Tyndall for 30 years and ignoring volumes of complaints and evidence of his misdeeds."

There was no immediate response from USC.

The university's president resigned in 2018 amid pressure from two hundred professors to step down over the scandal.

Los Angeles police opened their own investigation, and in 2019 the doctor was arrested and charged with multiple counts of sexual penetration and sexual battery by fraud against 16 young women.

He is awaiting trial and could face a sentence of up to 53 years in prison if convicted, the district attorney's office said. 

Tyndall has denied any wrongdoing, and said in a 2019 statement that he "remains adamant" he will be "totally exonerated."

Agence France-Presse

Gynecologist charged with sex abuse at US university

LOS ANGELES - A former gynecologist at a top California university was arrested and charged Wednesday with sexually assaulting 16 young women during medical examinations, officials said.

George Tyndall has been accused of abuse by hundreds of female patients during his 30-year career, in a major scandal that has engulfed the University of Southern California.

The doctor was arrested outside his apartment by Los Angeles police Wednesday and charged with multiple counts of sexual penetration and sexual battery by fraud.

He could face a sentence of up to 53 years in prison if convicted, the district attorney's office said. 

Accusations against Tyndall, ranging from inappropriate touching to rape, date as far back as 1990, although the charges relate to incidents since 2009. The youngest alleged victim was aged 17.

The doctor, now 72, has been accused of taking photos of patients' genitals, groping their breasts and making lewd remarks about their physiques, as well as racist and homophobic comments.

He allegedly often targeted minority students -- including many from the university's large Asian student population -- who were not fluent in English or unfamiliar with gynecological exams.

He was not investigated by USC officials until 2016, and was allowed to retire under an amicable agreement with the university, the financial details of which have not been disclosed. 

The university's president resigned last year amid pressure from two hundred professors to step down over the scandal.

Los Angeles police opened their own investigation and have since been gathering evidence to present to prosecutors for criminal charges.

USC interim president Wanda Austin said Wednesday the university was cooperating with the police investigation.

"We hope this arrest will be a healing step for former patients and our entire university," she said.

Hundreds of former patients have also sued the university for failing to adequately respond to the allegations against Tyndall.

Last year, USC said it had reached an "agreement in principle" to pay $215 million in compensation.

Tyndall has denied any wrongdoing, and said in a statement through his lawyer Wednesday that he "remains adamant" he will be "totally exonerated."

"After a year of being tried in the press, Dr Tyndall looks forward to having his case adjudicated in a court of law where the truth will finally prevail," said attorney Andrew Flier.

USC has also been rocked in recent months by a wide-ranging college admissions bribery scandal.

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source: news.abs-cbn.com

University of Southern California torn by scandal surrounding gynecologist

LOS ANGELES - Two-hundred faculty members of the University of Southern California on Tuesday called for the USC's top official to resign over the school's handling of complaints that a campus health clinic gynecologist sexually abused his patients during pelvic exams.

The demand for USC President C.L. Max Nikias to step down came in an open letter from professors to the school's Board of Trustees as USC faced a mounting tide of litigation accusing Dr. George Tyndall of misconduct and the university of complicity and negligence.

Tyndall resigned from the university last year after an internal inquiry found his pelvic examination practices were beyond accepted medical standards and that he had harassed patients.

More than 2,200 students, alumni and others at USC, one of the most prestigious private U.S. institutions of higher education, signed a separate online petition calling for Nikias' ouster as the campus reeled from its third major personnel scandal since last year.

The university has acknowledged failing to properly act on at least eight complaints made against Tyndall between 2000 and 2014. Several former patients have filed civil lawsuits in the past two days, and one new accusation lodged in a sworn declaration released on Tuesday dates back to 1991.

A hotline and special website that USC set up recently have received about 200 more reports from concerned patients, the university said.

The Chinese government last week voiced "deep concern" over reports that many of Tyndall's alleged victims were foreign students from China.

Tyndall, 71, could not be reached by Reuters for comment. However, in interviews with the Los Angeles Times he has denied wrongdoing and defended the efficacy of his medical exams.

NO ACTIVE CRIMINAL PROBE

The university recently brought the situation to the attention of the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, which referred the matter on May 9 to the Los Angeles Police Department "to investigate potential criminal misconduct," a spokesman for the D.A. said in an email.

An LAPD spokesman, Tony Im, said on Tuesday police "have no active criminal investigation on this matter."

Responding to the faculty letter, USC Board of Trustees Chairman John Mork said in a statement that the board's executive committee had "full confidence" in Nikias.

Mork called the reports surrounding Tyndall "distressing."

Nikias acknowledged the "faculty's anger and frustration" in a statement on Tuesday, and said he was "committed to working with them" to implement a new action plan to address the crisis and to "change the culture."

Nikias came under fire last year over accusations of chronic drug abuse by a former USC medical school dean and allegations of sexual harassment by another medical school dean.

Those scandals were cited in both the faculty letter and the online petition as evidence of Nikias' failures as president.

"He has lost the moral authority to lead the university," the letter said. "The university administration's actions have been wrong at every turn."

The letter pointed to the fact, acknowledged by USC, that the university allowed Tyndall to quietly resign last year, following the inquiry, without reporting him to the state medical board.

The university said it initially declined to report Tyndall to the medical board because he stated his intention then to retire, but USC did report him after he sought reinstatement in March.

"In hindsight, we should have made this report eight months earlier when he separated from the university," Nikias said in a letter to the campus last week.

"It is true that our system failed, but it is important that you know that this claim of a cover-up is patently false," USC Provost Michael Quick said in a message posted on Monday.

Several accusers who alleged Tyndall molested them under the guise of medical treatment recounted a sense of something being wrong at the time but not fully comprehending the encounters as sexual abuse until reading about other allegations in the Los Angeles Times earlier this month.

One USC graduate identified only as Jane Doe alleged in a sworn declaration released by her attorney on Tuesday that Tyndall had taken pictures of her genitals with a camera during a pap smear appointment, then tried to deny it, in 1991.

Eight complaints reported in the early 2000s to a former health center director, who has since died, were never brought to light until they were uncovered during the course of an investigation the university opened in 2016.

That probe was launched, and Tyndall was suspended, after a staff member at the student health center came forward with reports that he had made sexually inappropriate comments to patients.

source: news.abs-cbn.com