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The University of Southern California let a staff gynecologist continue to treat students despite more than two decades of allegations that he was touching women inappropriately during examinations and making sexually suggestive remarks, a Los Angeles Times investigative report published Tuesday alleges.
The newspaper, which said it had been asking questions about George Tyndall since February, said the university did not suspend the former doctor until 2016, after an internal investigation prompted by complaints by a nurse frustrated that he was still practicing. Although the internal review reportedly found that Tyndall's behavior was outside the scope of current medical practice, administrators allowed him to resign with a financial payout and did not tell his patients or, initially, report him to the state medical board. According to the Times, it "belatedly filed a complaint with the medical board on March 9 following a request by Tyndall to be reinstated … about a month after Times reporters began questioning university employees about Tyndall."
In a letter posted on the university's website Tuesday (along with a longer "statement of facts" about the situation), President C. L. Max Nicias called Tyndall's actions "completely inappropriate" and a "shameful betrayal of our values."
He added, "In hindsight, we should have made this report eight months earlier when he separated from the university."