The criminal case against former USC gynecologist George Tyndall, who died last year, was dropped Friday when Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler accepted Tyndall’s defense team’s request for dismissal.
The 76-year old died on Oct. 4 last year of natural causes, with a medical examiner confirming through autopsy that there was no foul play. Before he was suspended from USC in 2016, Tyndall worked in the USC Student Health Center for 27 years.
Despite having accusations of inappropriate conduct against him dating back to 1991, Tyndall continued to work at USC until a nurse formally filed a complaint in 2016. The criminal case, brought initially in May 2018 by five former students and later settling at 16 plaintiffs, cited numerous cases of sexual assault and misconduct from 2009 through 2016. Despite this, Tyndall didn’t surrender his medical license until after his June 2019 arrest, according to a release from the Medical Board of California.
Tyndall was charged with 18 felony counts of sexual penetration of an unconscious person and would have likely stood trial in 2024.
Fidler stated Friday that he was unable to “take a position’' on the case, according to a City News Service story.
“I feel terribly that you didn’t get what you were seeking,’’ Fidler said, directing the comments to Tyndall’s victims.
Tyndall’s attorney Leonard Levine stated that the doctor “always maintained his innocence,’’ CNS reported. Levine went on to say that it was a “tragedy” that Tyndall and the complainants would not have their day in court.
“This whole process has been a huge disappointment,” one of Tyndall’s alleged victims said outside of the courtroom, according to CNS.
USC settled several class action lawsuits in 2021 for their inaction during Tyndall’s years of alleged misconduct, agreeing to pay a total $1.1 billion to hundreds of his former patients. According to the Los Angeles Times, Tyndall left USC in 2017 with a financial settlement of an undisclosed amount.
Folt, who took over USC long after the Tyndall scandal, has not commented since before Tyndall’s death. Asked for a reaction, USC PR referred Annenberg Media to 2021 statements regarding the civil settlements and Tyndall’s history at the university.