USC Gynecologist Post-Mortem Examination: Thursday, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office verified that it conducted an examination of former USC campus gynecologist George Tyndall, whose body was discovered at his residence last week as he awaited trial on charges of sexual misconduct with sixteen patients. Tyndall was a resident of that location.
A Medical Examiner’s Office spokesperson stated, “An investigation was conducted; the determination of the cause of death has been postponed.” Additionally, she stated that “no autopsy was conducted.”
As explained by the Medical Examiner’s Office, an external examination consists of observing for external indications of trauma. An autopsy might be necessary to ascertain the cause and manner of death, contingent upon the exam results and the surrounding circumstances.
According to the coroner’s office, “Cases are deferred when the deputy medical examiner is requesting further investigation/studies into the fatality. As a result of the ongoing mortality investigation, the department is unable to divulge the details of the investigation or provide an estimated closure date for the case.
The office announced last week that it had no intention of conducting an autopsy on Mr. Tyndall due to “a history of natural disease that accounted for his sudden demise; there were no suspicious circumstances suggesting foul play, suicide, or the presence of toxins in his life.”
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On Monday, the remains of the 76-year-old male were subsequently transferred to the coroner’s office.
Attorneys for some of Tyndall’s alleged victims are outraged by the decision not to conduct a complete autopsy; they believe they are being deprived of finality regarding his death and of the opportunity to witness his trial.
On October 4, Tyndall’s corpse was discovered in his condominium in Los Angeles by a friend who had been unsuccessful in contacting him. Tyndall was in pretrial detention on sex-related charges stemming from allegations made by patients that he engaged in improper conduct while conducting medical examinations.
Consistently, Tyndall and his legal representatives have denied any misconduct.
On August 11, Tyndall was sentenced to stand trial on eighteen felony counts of sexual penetration of an unconscious person. According to the accusations, the women involved were “oblivious to the nature of the act” and it failed to fulfill any professional objectives. In addition, he was charged with nine felonies of sexual battery by fraud.
According to the criminal complaint, the alleged offenses took place from 2009 to 2016, during Tyndall’s employment at the student health center of USC.
In an earlier development, charges were dismissed against eight additional women, of which four declined to proceed with the proceedings and one could not be reached.
A number of alleged Tyndall victims’ attorney, John Manly, criticized the decision not to conduct an autopsy in a statement released last week, stating that authorities “refused to properly investigate his death” by hastily attributing it to “natural causes.”
“This failure to investigate Tyndall’s cause of death adequately allows him to get away with decades of horrifying abuse and leaves hundreds of women without answers,” said Manly.
USC Gynecologist Post-Mortem Examination: Leonard Levine, one of Tyndall’s attorneys, stated to City News Service that his client “desperately desired to go to trial, where the questions of innocence or guilt should be resolved.” Tyndall, according to Levine, intended to provide testimony in which he “declared his innocence.”
Additionally, Tyndall’s defense team will petition for the case to be dismissed as soon as a copy of his death certificate becomes available, according to Levine.
On Friday, Tyndall was slated to appear in a tribunal located in downtown Los Angeles for a scheduled hearing. The defense had planned to petition the judge to reduce Tyndall’s bond from $1.3 million to $250,000 and to exempt him from electronic monitoring, in light of the eight charges against five additional women being dismissed.
Attorneys for hundreds of women who allege Tyndall sexually abused them announced in March 2021 that USC had been settled for $852 million in a lawsuit settlement. The resolution was described as the largest of its kind ever against a university.
A federal magistrate in Los Angeles finalized a $215 million class-action settlement between USC and a subset of the women who allege Tyndall sexually abused them in January 2020.
The settlement awards compensation of $2,500 or more to all class members, or approximately 17,000 former patients of Tyndall who received women’s health services. Patients who are amenable to providing additional information regarding their experience may qualify for supplementary compensation of up to $250,000.
USC Gynecologist Post-Mortem Examination: Some victims’ attorneys have argued that the university paid Tyndall a considerable financial settlement in 2016 in exchange for his quiet resignation, following an internal investigation of complaints lodged against him.
Officials from USC have stated that new protocols have been implemented at its student health center to ensure that any complaints are investigated and resolved by the appropriate university authorities and officials. They have also denied allegations of a cover-up pertaining to Tyndall on multiple occasions. Additionally, the university announced the recruitment of board-certified female physicians and the distribution of patient education materials regarding sensitive examinations.
USC President Carol Folt issued a statement in March 2021, in response to the settlement, in which she expressed regret for the suffering endured by the victims and hoped that the resolution would bring some solace to those who had been subjected to abuse by Tyndall.
According to California Medical Board records, Tyndall gave up his medical license in September of 2019.
