Former USC gynecologist accused of sexual misconduct found dead at home in Los Angeles
Former University of Southern California gynecologist George Tyndall, accused of sexually abusing hundreds of women under the guise of medical exams, appears in court for arraignment in Los Angeles, California, US, on July 1, 2019.
Former University of Southern California (USC) gynecologist George Tyndall, who was accused of sexual misconduct against a generation of women at the university, was found dead Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles, local media reported on Thursday.
Tyndall was 76. His death forecloses a criminal trial set for next year. Scores of USC alumnae were expected to take the stand against him and testify to inappropriate touching and harassing remarks during gynecological exams at a campus health clinic, according to the Los Angeles Times, the biggest newspaper on the US West Coast.
No autopsy was to be performed and the Los Angeles Police Department had reported it to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's office as a natural death, said the report, citing Lt. Kelsie Weber of the medical examiner's office.
On March 25, 2021, USC announced an US$852 million settlement to resolve lawsuits from hundreds of women over sexual abuse by Tyndall.
USC is a leading private research university located in downtown Los Angeles. A total of 46,000 students were enrolled in the 2020-2021 academic year, including more than 6,000 from China.
The Los Angeles Times, which first exposed the scandal in 2018, has reported that there was fear that the gynecologist was targeting the university's growing population of Chinese students in recent years, as some of those Chinese students had a limited knowledge of the English language and American medical norms.
According to Deng Law Center in Los Angeles, at least three former Chinese students of the university joined the lawsuits against USC in 2018.
