Nude Photos Of Patients Found In Former University Gynecologist's Storage

Photos of nude women, some taken in medical exam rooms, were found inside a storage unit belonging to disgraced University of Southern California gynecologist George Tyndall, who was accused of sexually abusing over 200 patients, Los Angeles police said Tuesday. Tyndall, 71, is facing lawsuits from hundreds of women alleging he performed improper pelvic exams, making crude sexual comments during appointments and took pictures of them naked.

LAPD Capt. Billy Hayes told the Los Angeles Times the photos were found during an investigation and the images "are compromising." Tyndall, who saw about 10,000 patients in his nearly early three-decade career at USC, claimed he never had sexual thoughts about patients or used his camera in the exam room for anything other than medical purposes.

“He’s telling these young ladies that he is taking photographs for a study,” Hayes said. “If they are … in his storage facility, it doesn’t give credence to his statements to them that he was using [the photos] for research or to publish studies.”

Detectives have interviewed at least 117 women and presented the cases of 85 of them to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s sex crimes unit for possible charges. A grand jury is hearing evidence about Tyndall and looking into possible charges against him.

Officers are also working to determine whether the storage room pictures show patients at the USC’s student health center clinic and are trying to identify the women.

“This plays into the worst nightmares of women,” attorney John Manly, who is representing scores of former Tyndall patients, said.

An internal investigation conducted by the university found that Tyndall's behavior during pelvic exams amounted to sexual harassment of students. However, top administrators allowed Tyndall to resign quietly with a financial payout. After being criticized for not informing about Tyndall to his patients, USC told the Times in a statement that it was under no legal obligation to report him.

President C.L. Max Nikias sent a letter to the campus community Tuesday morning saying he had two daughters who attended USC and called Tyndall's conduct "a profound breach of trust."

"On behalf of the university, I sincerely apologize to any student who may have visited the student health center and did not receive the respectful care each individual deserves," Nikias wrote.

In October, the USC reportedly settled a federal class-action suit on behalf of nearly 100 of Tyndall’s patients for $215 million.

Tyndall’s lawyer, Leonard Levine said, “Dr. Tyndall is adamant that he has never sold, traded or shared any images of patients he examined while conducting medical examinations at USC.”