Men gynecologists, men running the miss america organization...I have never understood.
44
Any USC student who saw Dr. Tyndall deserves immediate financial restitution. Maybe a full tuition refund? Not that restitution can ease the pain these young women have experienced, but it is the right thing to do.
Medical records should still be available -- it's not hard to know who saw Dr. Tyndall over the years. USC is very wealthy institution. Pay each of these young women a settlement without dragging them through a legal process. USC does have the means to do this. Can USC make things right with students who were sexually abused by a staff physician on its campus? Does the institution have the will to reform, or is it forever discredited?
24
At USC in the 1990s, I recall seeing an on-campus doctor because I had a terrible head cold. He started asking me strange questions about how well I kept my private areas clean. That has stayed with me for years, so I can't imagine what it must be like for the women who saw this garbage person for an exam.
USC, between this guy and the abusive meth addict you had running the medical school, BE BETTER.
25
What a conspiracy of silence...while a deranged physician creates havoc among trusting patients, victimized repeatedly, their complaints meeting deaf ears and a cold heart. There must be a sensible, and suitable, surveillance system, so to weed out professional degenerates before they do harm, before they assault victims at their most vulnerable time and space. The George Tyndall's of this world are despicable criminals in our midst, and requiring a permanent confinement (prison)...to render them incapable of abuse, and years of depressive aftereffects for the victim. And the real concern of evading a true physician to care for potentially serious illness.
12
Isn’t it interesting how US colleges and universities (and apparently prep schools) treat students (customers, in a sense) accused of sexual assault when compared to how they treat their doctors (PhD and MD)?
Not reporting to law enforcement (multiple!) allegations of sexual assault by a school physician or coach is an astounding breech of trust (and they needn’t have “outed” the people who reported him — just let police and DA know of the numerous reports coming in)! While unfortunately plenty of students get away with perpetrating sexual assault, schools also have expelled, without due process of law law enforcement authorities, student accused of sexual misconduct.
It is also an outrage that school presidents and boards of trustees and the deans they oversee place the school’s shorter-term public-relations concerns ahead of the school community’s public health!
20
Are medical assistants licensed? If not, they should be, with a legal obligation to report any suspected instances of sexual abuse of a patient to the state.
That would make doctors more careful about engaging in inappropriate behaviors.
12
As an alumnus, I will not be donating a single cent to USC until they clean house.
33
When seeing an Ivy League campus Health Service’s (male) doctor for gynecological problem in the 90’s, my very hetero and partnered female friend was asked by the doctor whether she was sexually active. Before she could answer affirmatively, the doctor very obviously glanced at my friend’s closely-cropped haircut and said an awkward, “Oh, never mind.” We laughed about it at the time — the ridiculously-obvious and multi-layered homophobia of his behavior — but it troubles me to this day.
17
I cannot understand how this man got away with his conduct for so many years. Where was the chaperone during the actual physical examinations? I am nearly 70 and every time a doctor did a physical exam on me that involved either the genitals or the breasts, a nurse was present in the room. I can understand why young women, particularly women who come from a different society such as the students from China, might be reluctant to tell the doctor to stop. But why didn't they (a) file a written complaint with the University, and (b) file a written complaint with the state's medical licensing board. This is particular true to those cases where the doctor's conduct would be considered by any reasonable person to be clearly out of bounds.
10
There was a nurse/chaperone every time. But nurses are not doctors, putting them in a difficult position to tell a doctor to stop what he is doing in the moment, because they aren't in a position to second guess medical treatment. It also makes it worse, because it gives the patient (who in all likelihood doesn't know that digital penetration after the pap smear is normal, before an moving the fingers in and out with some cursory medical-related reason is not) a false sense of security. It was those nurses and chaperones who reported him, many times. Those concerns were ignored (until one got so frustrated at the administration's inaction she went to the rape crisis center). We probably don't know if anyone reported him outside the school and can only speculate what that response would have been.
11
"the doctor's conduct would be considered by any reasonable person ..." Dunno about you, and times have changed, but before I went off to college I had one visit to a gynecologist, my mother's, and she was very close at hand. Oh, and he delivered me.
I would have had no idea what to expect from a gynecological exam on my own at that age.
12
I did medical rotations at UCI OB/GYN. It is a high pressure field in the delivery room with extreme pressures to make zero mistakes. The personalities there amongst the doctors was not good. It is a high paying field also. I witnessed narcissists and others who had body fetishes, both male and female ob/gyn doctors. It led me to question if there was a sexual motivation on both female and male gynecologists I observed.
24
Unnecessary medical procedures have been going on for a very long time. Better examination standards, and awareness on the part of patients, are needed. And there are sufficient numbers of female medical students to help alleviate medical sexual abuse in the future.
7
I don't know what it is about campus physicians, but in undergrad every time one of the male students went to see the campus physician he always wanted to do a proctological exam on us and talk about our sex lives. The female students he always asked if they were pregnant. Everyone avoided the health center because of that.
25
Chaperones may not be of any help. I had a total thyroidectomy in 1972, done by a well known and well recommended surgeon at Columbia. Every time I saw him before the surgery he kept asking when I had last had my breasts examined and that it was very important for my health. I agreed but told him that I had a GYN who took care of that for me. He kept offering to examine me and I kept declining. It just felt odd. When I woke from my surgery, I found that I had been taped from the incision at the base of my neck almost down to my navel. I am large breasted. His unusual way of doing a post surgical dressing made walking the halls painful as I had to fold my arms to hold up my breasts so the adhesive tape did not pull on the incision. I had felt he was creepy-- but that a whole operating room staff watched him grope me and play with my breasts was totally frightening. He is dead now, but I cannot help wondering how many other women he experienced what I did.
41
When I was a young woman I was sexually abused by two different doctors. The first time when I was around 18 after starting our appnt he then said he needed to do a breast exam and he needed to show an intern how it was done. He then brought another young male into the room and they laid me on the table and each took a breast. Then about 5 years later when I was married the same thing happened to me by the doctor my husband and I shared. He also insisted on a breast exam with the help of an "intern." His comment during the procedure was "I bet this has never happened to you before but maybe it has. Hahaha!" I was extremely uncomfortable both times but I certainly had no idea that they were not being truthful. I couldn't begin to imagine anybody doing what they did so I assumed it was normal. It's not until I got older and wiser that I recognized what had happened and it disgusts me.
Neither of them seemed remotely concerned that I might tell. They would just deny it and their word is more believable than a young woman's. I've never trusted doctors since and it has affected my life negatively.
46
Jennifer,
These doctors should not have done anything you were uncomfortable with, and they should have created an environment in which real consent was obtained, your feelings were considered, and you felt comfortable sharing those feelings. That being said, it is common practice in a teaching setting for a physician to show an intern or student how to do an exam and /or take turns doing an exam. I’m sad to hear this experience affected and continues to affect you negatively.
8
Dear Issaquah,
I am so sorry you were treated in this manner by men of the medical profession. I will only suggest to stay away from male doctors when considering gynecological/obstetric exams, and be sure to vet women doctors when looking for someone to care for you. I have never had a male doctor because I always thought it was odd for men, especially today, to study medicine in a area that concerns female emotional, mental, and physical health.
21
Displacement maybe?
“One of the worst parts is that I feel like a dumb girl,” she said. “I spent all this money on a fancy education, but I am this dumb broad who just didn’t report something awful.”
This happens so often. While we know something awful just happened we are too stunned and feel powerless to act. We go on with our lives, punishing ourselves rather than the offender. I can't help but think it's a behaviour the offenders count on.
65
More consciousness raising is called for here. I hope she forgives herself. She is not at fault for not immediately recognizing his behavior as inappropriate. He was practiced at these little comments and overly-personal touchings. Also, as women, sometimes we ignore some things and choose bigger battles. I, too, have had belated awakenings in life as I have become more mature. If she'd reported it she might have been ignored or the event minimized, making her feel foolish or ineffectual at the time. She is not alone and not a "dumb broad."
26
I have only ever gone to female gynecologists. What happened to these women is the reason why.
35
As a medical intern, I witnessed lesbian, female ob/gyn doctors give rough, thrusting and totally unnecessary harsh digital pelvic exams. But I also question the motives of male ob/gyn doctors. If you are violated by a female, you might not be aware, or be more forgiving.
14
How many unacceptable, unprofessional end disgusting incidents is going to take before USC which has the highest tuition in the country, makes some wholesale changes in their Administration? So far we've had the drunk football coach, the corrupt basketball coach, the illegal drug using head of the medical school and now a sexual abusing gynecologist. When is USC going to make hiring quality, accountable employees and administration a priority over fund raising? Why are colleges essentially allowed to operate outside the legal system? These people need to stop hiding their dirty laundry and get out in front of it and manage the situation.
44
Until they are REQUIRED to by the 'donors'.
9
What happened to the old common practice of having a female nurse present in the room during an exam?
15
They were in there and he did his little inappropriate things in front of the nurses. One nurse reported him several times and nothing happened! Finally she reported him to the rape crisis center and the person there took action. It took years. Amazing, isn't it?
41
Not even a USC requirement to have another female present in the examination room following the complaints?
Maybe the lawyer who wasn't able to connect the dots between her own alleged abuses under George Tyndall and those committed by Lawrence Nassar, could now put on her own "big-girl pants" and put her law degree to good use by urging students to report the abuses and universities to be held accountable. It would be a good start.
9
That the NY Times provided a contact form for victims to relate their experience with "Dr." Tyndall is outstanding. It is the media that is making all the difference these days.
21
Having a pelvic exam is awkward under any circumstances and most women dread it. Any such visit with a male gynecologist needs to be chaperoned by a female staffer who is in a position to see exactly what the doctor is doing at all times. There is no other way to protect women against this type of abuse.
22
The chaperone is also there to protect the male or female provider from a false accusation by the patient.
23
I don't think it should be illegal to be a male gynecologist but psychological screening should be mandated to determine why a male wants to do this type of medicine and his attitudes toward women. All my physicians are female and so are my daughter's.
My reasons are not really fear of physical sexual abuse but for the condescension toward women that many men with power have for women. The "it's all in your head dear" diagnosis for instance.
46
I am 72 and have three children. I have had a number of gynecological examinations over the years, both by men and women doctors. Almost all behaved professionally. Once a doctor examined me in a way that felt strangely, subtly sexual. I was a forty year old woman and a mother, not naive. I felt uncomfortable and never went back to him. There was a nurse in the room the whole time. She probably had seen it before.
11
I understand where you are coming from in suggesting men be screened, psychologically, before they are licensed as ob/gyns, but I fear that such a requirement would set a concerning precedent by which individuals or whole classes of people would face an undue and intrusive burden of having to justify their career choices (especially if in what at the time is considered an atypical job/career for their sex/gender, race, religion, economic class, ancestry, etc!). Should a doctor who is female (or a gay/bisexual male for that matter) have to answer intrusive questions, undergo psychological screenings, and have to justify her/his/their interest in providing healthcare (including prostrate and urological exams) to male patients? Should an industrial designer or researcher or manufacturer have to do the same in order to justify, say, their involvement in developing birth control, surveillance equipment or methods, firearms or methods of carrying out capital punishment?
If we are going to require of certain job candidates a passing score on a tough and thorough psychological screening that (supposedly) discerns their real reasons for, or probability of future risk in, wanting a certain position of trust, let’s start with a thorough psychological and criminality screening of the person who, alone, can authorize the use of nuclear arms!
7
Universities will never, ever report anything like this if they think there's a decent chance it will blow over. The ones caught should be held accountable in a way that hurts so bad that the others would have to start applying some civil ethics to such cases.
11
Report asssults to law enforcement. Spread the word. No one but law enforcement can search and compel testimony. You are a fool to report crimes to anyone but law enforcement and prosecutors. Prosecutors put people in jail. No one else can.
12
USC is learning the hard way that "No comment" means "I'm guilty."
16
"For years, medical workers had accused the doctor of touching women inappropriately during pelvic exams, as well as making racist and sexual remarks about patients’ bodies.
Everyone who was informed of this "doctor's" crimes should stand trial. Hopefully, they will be convicted and serve and appropriate sentence. The doctor should be sent away for a very long time.
9
As I wrote at the time of the last USC scandal, I taught at USC for 15 years. The actions of this doctor surprise me. The reactions of the senior USC administration don't surprise me at all. Would that they did.
14
As a medical student in Philadelphia decades ago, I did my OB/GYN rotation in a major teaching hospital that served predominantly socioeconomically disadvantaged women. Most memorable was a woman who told me that she had been “run through this clinic like a head of cattle on many occasions” and was appreciative of the time and care that I had taken in obtaining her history and doing an appropriate examination. In another patient, I felt what I thought was a large pelvic mass during a routine examination. Bringing it to my senior resident’s attention, I was told “great pick-up” (as in this was a significant finding). Alas, I did not go into OB/GYN... Just a strand running through this old doctor’s head as I read about another disgrace.
11
In 1969 I attended freshman orientation in my all-women's dorm at a big-name Eastern private university. Among the helpful info presented by our senior-class RA was the location of the campus infirmary for non-emergency medical treatment. She added with a grim chuckle that the chief MD, surname Watson, was known among female students as "Strip-to-the-Waist Watson" for his routine instruction to patients to do just that, whether being seen for chest pain or a twisted ankle. The guy was a doctor and in charge of the facility, so complaining was clearly not an option. We stayed away and hoped that our strep, sprain, or whatever else would heal without medical "attention."
43
So many stories of so many decades of abuse and protection of the criminal by the organization that should be protecting everyone.
As these brave women stand up and voice the abuse, I begin to wonder if women should return to the past when someone crossed the line of appropriate behavior turn around and slap him in the face.
But then no doubt I would read stories of the women being arrested.
11
Even before the Supreme Court ruling giving personhood status to corporation and protecting corporate wrongs through convoluted legal rulings, Women and Persons of Color have been on the front line of corporate abuse of victims, corporate collusion to protect their image, and corporate cover up of abuse while punishing victims. Throughout this history corporate collusion, created by an unjust legal system, girls and women were deprived of equal protection, the right to due process, and the right to sue via flagrant use of non-disclosure agreements.
We have been and continue to be a nation that has tolerated this abuse by failing to honor victims rights and tolerating a legal system that has failed to apply current laws to punish corporations failing to apply due process and actions against perpetrators their sheilds rather than protecting victims.
Until this changes there will be no end in sight on corporate collusion to protect their institutions over people.
7
No male clinician should perform pelvic or breast examinations on a woman without a female chaperone in the room. The chaperone should be introduced to the patient and her role in the clinical encounter should be explained. The examining clinician should seek to make the examination as comfortable for the patient as possible by explaining, before performing parts of the examination, what he is about to do and seeking the patient's consent. No extraneous, non-clinical, conversation is appropriate during this type of examination. Little about these guidelines have changed in the 30 years I've practiced medicine.
85
Actually no male or female physician should do these exams unchaperoned. It may take awhile, but one day this will be the standard of care.
18
There were chaperones in the room. The doctor's inappropriate behavior was reported over a hundred times and nothing was done! It was not addressed until the nurse, who had reported him over and over, went to the rape crisis center and reported him there. Obviously USC needs to revamp their reporting system and take complaints seriously. The administration bears a great deal of responsibility for ignoring complaints. What good is a "chaperone" if no one listens to them?
18
Where I get my care it is the standard of care. I have never had a pelvic exam by a man or a breast exam without a chaperone in the room. Doctors insist who on this are smart. There are so many good doctors it is sad when a guy like Tyndall gets away with his weirdness and abuse.
1
As an undergrad, I attended The University of Michigan, and had annual exams there. (This was the late 90s.) When the physician was male, a woman (I assume a nurse, but I'm not sure) was in the room with him during the exam--just standing off to the side. At the time, it seemed excessively PC and a bit awkward. Now, I'm grateful to U of M for taking those kinds of precautions, which I'm sure increased costs for them and seemed unnecessary to many.
97
Chaperones were indeed present during this doctor’s examinations. See the L.A. Times stories published earlier this week. The chaperones were powerless in the examination room. Some registered complaints about Tyndall’s behavior, but to no avail.
18
A previous article said there were women in the room as "chaperones." They too were shocked by Tyndall's behavior. Some reported it.
12
Good thing you attended the University of Michigan and not Michigan State.
6
Once again, Women abused by a perverted Man, and Everyone looks away, for many YEARS. Do NOT allow your Daughters or Granddaughters to be examined by a Male GYN. Why take the chance ??? Bring on the comments. I'm caffeinated, and ready.
53
I get your point, but I have always had male gynecologists (I'm 68 and my daughter is a doctor), and I have never had a single unprofessional experience. Fortunately I have always had good health insurance and being very very picky about medical care, only choose among the top tier of physicians. I don't think these men would make top ten in Texas with a clouded history.
Maybe we need to be more careful and selective about everything.
9
It’s unfair to lump all male gynecologists under “perv”. Most are extremely professional and their only interest is in the medical aspects of the reproductive system, not pervy motives.
In fact, most research, inventions and gains to female reproductive health were made by male doctors. A few bad apples don’t change that.
Instead, the framework for oversight, quality of patient care and reporting needs an overhaul, so any pervs that manage to slip the rigorous checkpoints through medical school and residency to employment as a gynecologist can be removed immediately.
4
Absolutely agree 100%!!!
1
From the quotes in the article, it looks like the guy is just creepy with an inept and unprofessional bedside manner.
Inserting gloved fingers, speculum, removing a tampon, etc. may seem salacious out of context, but all those are totally normal routine things during a gynecological exam.
It’s his dumb comments that turned normal exams into a nightmare. Good gynecologists, both male and female, are super professional, making the patient at ease by explaining the exam and asking medically relevant questions only. They are usually extra sensitive toward younger patients, and there is always a female nurse present during the exam.
Awful as these experiences may be, I don’t think this is sex abuse or comparable to what someone like Nassar did. He may need to be re-educated about a few things.
10
Please re-read the article and imagine your wife or daughter in the stirrups, receiving an examination from this "gynecologist". It is not fair to compare him to Nassar. But, it is clear, his patients felt abused.
14
His comments weren't dumb. They were intentionally humiliating. And, no holding up a used tampon for an extended amount of time is NOT normal.
It's unethical and unprofessional even if you don't think it's 'sex abuse.'
16
The only positive aspect to anything you've said is that you've clearly identified yourself as part of the very large problem. Hopefully, if enough people point it out to you, you'll educate yourself.
16
While disgusting, is anything described in the article illegal?
3
If a physician is touching a patient in a way that is unnecessary and is not consistent with accepted norms for that type of examination (such as moving one's fingers in and out, rather than just using them to feel the organs), and the patient does not agree with it, then it is considered to be battery, and is a crime.
If a patient does agree to medically inappropriate touching, then it is not a crime, but is is contact that is likely to result in the loss of one's medical license, if discovered, as sexual relations of any kind between a physician and patient are considered to be an absolute no-no in this day and age.
31
Good lord. Does it need to be 'illegal' for reasonable action to be taken against a doctor who is knowingly humiliating his patients? Why are so many people focused on whether something is strictly illegal? You treat people badly (and unprofessionally) and there are consequences.
16
TBBAC: It truly bothers me when someone says something like this about a situation like this. It doesn't have to be illegal to be just plain wrong. If this happened to you would you really care if it was illegal? Wouldn't you think it crossed a line, especially from a Doctor, a medical professional? Are you saying if it wasn't illegal than why all the fuss other than the ew factor? No it's wrong and needs to be stopped!
8
MSU and now USC: it is horrendous that the doctors at these two outstanding institutions were able to engage in longstanding and widespread criminal acts and no one did anything. Not quite. At MSU there were women in the chain of command who did know and they did nothing. It is worst than shameful, but now what can be done about it and how can this nightmare be prevented in the future. Another thought is where else must it be happening if it could happedn and did happen at MSU and USC?
11
USC's statement that they had no legal duty to report him to the Medical Board is a justification corporations and institutions use frequently to sweep unpleasant and illegal things under the carpet so that there is no legal fallout or damage to their public image. USC may have had no legal duty to make the report but they had a public duty to do so. I hope that all student victims who were abused during the time that USC was aware of Tyndall's crimes but before it fired him will hold USC financially responsible for what is tantamount to aiding and abetting and I hope that USC will terminate the employment of those higher ups in its institution who decided that Tyndall's and their jobs and future were more important than that of their wards.
41
Yet another illustration of the need to remove schools from the incident reporting chain.
The school didn't report the doctor because they weren't under a legal obligation to do so. Wasn't there a moral one?
69
I’ve been a patient of my male gynecologist for over 15 years. Before he begins his yearly pap and breast exams, he asks one of his nurses to come into the exam room. She is there to assist as well as be a witness during the exam. I find her presence a comforting professional additional. During the exam, he lets me know beforehand what he will be doing and asks if that is okay with me. This type of professionalism, respect and care should be a given, although I realize that my degree of care is an exception instead of the rule.
While in college, I had a breast exam performed by a female physician. Only her and I were in the room. In the middle of the exam, she began to take liberties and I suddenly froze. I sternly demanded that she stop what she was doing so I could get dressed and leave. She showed no remorse, embarrassment or awkwardness, as if what she did was perfectly okay. I reported her actions to the hospital administrator but never heard back in any kind of follow up phone call or letter. I surmised that no action was taken because either she denied the accusations or there was no investigation.
Doctors should represent trust and safety when a patient enters their office or examination room. When that trust and safety is broken, the level of emotional damage and fear is difficult to repair and overcome. At the very least, these actions should warrant their medical licenses to be revoked coupled with a hefty fine payable to the victim.
62
It should not be an "exception". Thank you for describing the protocol in your doctor's office.
2
I had a hiring physical in the early 70's for a job I then had for 35 years. The job, chemist, was with a Fortune 500 company with a conservative East Coast culture. I has been working as a photographer with a company that encouraged 70's-style flamboyant dress. So I wore that for my 1st day, including the physical.
I was given the exam by a company doctor in his 50's. As he finished the prostate exam he wiped the jelly off me himself (?), then gave me a peculiar smile as I pulled my pants up and asked "Did you like that?"
There I was, embarrassed by the deeply personal and painful exam being asked an outrageous question by a doctor twice my age. I needed the job. "No, did you?" was all I could think of to say. He smiled again and said "I think we're done here."
Years later, after he had retired and died, I finally had the nerve to tell someone in HR and some of my co-workers. My older co-workers told me that the doctor, a married father of three, was rumored to often chase men. No one had spoken up, or else no one who could act to prevent such abuse cared.
Shock more than shame, and the idea that he could prevent my getting that job had held me back at the time. #MeToo
123
It’s speculation that this doctor “could prevent” you from getting that job. Not reporting that incident, a lewd comment, is how pervs get away with it. No disrespect, but one lewd comment foes not constitute a #metoo moment. Ask any woman who has ever walked by a construction site.
3
A construction site is different that the intimate and trusting setting of a doctor's office. What "Tom Jeff" writes about here is just as much a violation as the accounts in the article.
9
A male being sexually 'harassed' by another male, as in this case, is ALSO in the #MeToo camp.
There is NO WAY this will change until the power structure changes -- also, I bet many [men and women] give in to situations where the person has control over their livelihood.
8
“If we receive a complaint from the member of the public or clinic or another doctor, we look into it,” said Carlos Villatoro, a spokesman for the board. “But the complaint has to come to us in the first place.”
Ok, Medical Board of California. Now you have a complaint. For public safety and welfare will you be willing to share and make transparent your process of investigating complaints? Can you share the penalties. Are you willing to look at certain specialties with particular scrutiny, including Obstetrics, Gynecology, Gastroenterology, Urology so that you are not just waiting for complaints to roll in. Does the Board consist of persons willing to take ownership of it's role or will you continue to hide behind a spokesmen? Villatoro says above, "If we receive a complaint" not 'when we receive a complaint'. I find that a very revealing choice of words.
20
Ew.
I never really thought about it, just always have gone to a female OB/GYN. Can't imagine talking about certain issues to a stranger male, never mind being internally examined by one.
Doesn't the t-shirt say it all:
I'm not a gynecologist, but I'll take a look!
Just ew.
30
I have to say that's an unfair judgement. The only gynecologists I have ever seen were male and they were all great. One was old enough to be my grandfather in fact and had delivered me as a baby. I have no problem speaking to a "strange" male about my medical problems, nor being examined by one. They are doctors after all.
9
T-shirt? What t-shirt?!? And: Gross!!!
2
Well Dr Tyndell was a doctor after all.
1
A woman in stirrups is in the most vulnerable position possible. Nearly 30 years ago, I had an exam by a GYN at a major teaching hospital who took a cell phone call, right after he had inserted the speculum, to arrange travel for an upcoming guest lecture. He left me in that uncomfortable position for several minutes and finally hung up, continuing like nothing unusual had happened. It was an absolutely humiliating experience. I never returned to his office, but I’ve never forgotten it. I’m sorry for the hundreds of women who have endured worse.
94
Cell phones in 1988? Possibly but they were very expensive (nearly $4,000).
1
O Come on - it could have been a cordless phone. Not very different in this context from a cell phone.
2
I worked for a doctor in 1988 who had one of those giant cell phones. He was, and is, a terrific and highly moral guy, by the way. My point is, there were cell phones then, big clunky ones.
2
This points up our culture of not hearing complaints, suppressing, and rejecting those who have complaints. I find this to be counter to my and societies values and beliefs starting with honesty and justice. It seems that the smily face people have made truth telling a social flaw. How many people have had to endure this stupidity because of our promotion of false values?
When someone states they have been abused, or harmed pay attention.
33
I remember these exact feelings and thoughts, and have carried them with me to this day (40 years later), after an exam with a dr at a different college. There needs to be much greater vetting prior to hiring and a place for people to be heard. I spoke to the nurse who was in the room with me and she just nodded, as if was routine to her.
29
"U.S.C. officials said they had received more than 100 complaints about Dr. Tyndall, either through a hotline or a website the university set up to receive complaints."
This is why MeToo is so important. Women are NOT taken seriously and their complaints often go ignored.
I'm tired of people saying, "Well, why didn't they report it?" Many do report and nothing happens. And until women are taken seriously they will continue to use social media and other means to be heard whether people think that's 'fair' or not.
121
I am not sure reporting to USC's hotline will help with the victims concerns. USC is in the process of mitigating damage to the institution and their motives for setting up the hotline and webpage are murky, at best.
The victims should go to the LAPD.
5
How about all the warnings about Jerry Sandusky as he got away with abusing boys/men for more then a decade. Males are also victims of sexual abuse where the warning signs that could have least saved some were ignored.
6
I hope trustees will finally stand up and hold USC's president accountable for these disgraceful scandals. My guess is that many of their daughters attended USC, so perhaps this latest will at long last get their attention. The university throws around the term "our values" as though it has any meaning.
28
My son graduated from USC and we paid full freight. I can tell you we won't be giving them anymore money. Disgusting.
8
USC has an extremely powerful administration and a long standing inferiority complex about its standing in the academic community. An idea rooted in the administration about 20 years ago, that USC could leverage its wealthy alumni to buy its way into the ranks of the top universities. Thus, faculty who can be bought are bought and the administration overlooks ANYTHING that will keep the money rolling and the "transformational progress" continuing. This strategy has led to the USC senior leadership (Nikias/Quick) re-appointing a med school Dean (Puliafito), who was known to be abusive and thought to be a drunk, even though he was was despised by his own faculty. When he turned out to be a meth addict and criminal, they appointed a successor (Varma) who their own personnel files should have told them had sexually abused female colleagues. Now we find that that a gynecologist (Tyndall) has abused hundreds of female students. This doctor was flagged for years as a pervert by his own nurses, but their complaints were ignored.
In every case, the instinct of the senior leadership has been morally bankrupt: they covered it up, or paid to make it go away, until the LA Times came to hold them account. When will the senior leadership be held to account by the trustees?
101
You must have gone to UCLA, another university with academic standing only slightly above USC. And UCLA has had their share of notoriety lately, hasn't it?
2
So glad Tyndall is finally getting his due. As one of his patients, who reported him to a nurse for bad behavior and was met with a shrug, seeing his name in the NYT and knowing he's no longer at USC is a huge relief.
185
Being a gynecologist as a male should be illegal. Seriously, how is that not a conflict of interest?
17
And where do we draw the line? Are gay men allowed to do the job? How about lesbian women? Bisexuals? What's the stance on trans people?
That line of thinking just isn't practical, and it's clearly discriminatory.
34
What an ignorant comment. The best ob-gyn I've seen is a man. The male doctors tend to be gentler than the women, actually.
I once gave a pep talk to a med student who wanted to become an ob-gyn, but thought he might have a hard time attracting patients, to go for it.
18
Because some men are able to separate the sexual from the anatomical. It’s like saying a woman can’t be a urologist. To physicians, the anatomy of the genitals is just like the anatomy of any other part of the body, and they treat the diseases that affect that anatomy without caring about the social implications of said anatomy.
It is definitely more salient when a story of an inappropriate/bad doctor involving medical care of the genitals comes around, because of the intimate and private nature of our genitals, but there are inappropriate/bad doctors in every field. Male gynecologists aren’t looking at your genitals to judge them or to get aroused, they’re looking at them to treat a medical condition you’re experiencing. Rest assured that the vast majority couldn’t care less about what it looks like, how wet it is or isn’t, or any of that. It’s horrific that this guy did and that he saw fit to comment on that, but please don’t generalize his perversions to all male gynecologists.
26
I remember complaints against my childhood neighbor that was an OBGYN. This has to be widespread, because this was 30 years ago. Perhaps only females for the job?
18
There are excellent male ob-gyns out there. Let's not throw the baby out with the bath water.
28
As a woman and a nurse, I am horrified by these practices, and utterly astonished that this guy got away with this for so many years. It is no surprise to me that it was eventually a nurse who blew the whistle on this doctor. We are often the first line of protection for patients. There should never, never be any sort of internal examination performed without a trained professional present in the room, with the doctor and patient. Never. This is for the protection not only of the patient, but for the health care provider, as well. USC has an enormous cultural problem. This needs to be addressed from the top, down. Pronto.
136
I remember getting a vaginal untrasound in 20 14 by a male technician with no other medical staff in the room at Mt Sinai Brooklyn Heights in NY. I thought it was inappropriate, but I went through with it without asking for a nurse because I thought nothing could make that procedure better, worse or feel safer for me as a survivor of sexual assault. The technician never asked me either. It was extremely uncomfortable and in the end didn't even reveal all that the procedure is stated to reveal. I walked in thinking the practice of OB/GYN was medieval, insensitive and barbaric and I left feeling the same way. I prefer to get treatment by other trusted practitioners and have been able to avoid the gyn's office.
29
I hope that you have read the comment already made by P. She just got a shrug from the nurse.
So glad Tyndall is finally getting his due. As one of his patients, who reported him to a nurse for bad behavior and was met with a shrug, seeing his name in the NYT and knowing he's no longer at USC is a huge relief.
17
Some nurses are better and more concerned, than others, to be sure. But the really salient point here is that all medical personnel must be empowered to SPEAK UP if they see anything untoward. There needs to be a culture of "see something, say something" in which surrounding personnel are not afraid of retaliation if they bring up uncomfortable incidents. This attitude should come directly from the top of the university, all the way down to every single person who works in a facility, including housekeeping staff (who often are the very good sources of information when incidents happen). And finally, documented ACTION must be taken and communicated to other staff.
2