Protector of Trojan women becomes a victim of #metoo then decides to Fight On

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In recent years, some colleagues feared that he was targeting the university's growing population of Chinese students, who often had a limited understanding of the English language and American medical norms.

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n interviews with The Times, Tyndall, 71, insisted that he had done nothing wrong. He said he performed exams that were extremely thorough, but always appropriate. "I'm there to protect the health of Trojan women," Tyndall said.

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Chaperones were concerned about what Tyndall described as a full body scan for unusual moles. They said Tyndall frequently had women lie naked on the exam table while he slowly inspected every part of their body, down to the area between their buttocks.

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During consultations in his office, Tyndall tried to connect with these students, he said. He ordered a map of China and encouraged women to point out their home province. He kept a bamboo plant, the traditional Chinese symbol of longevity and vitality, on a shelf above his desk, and recalled how some patients liked to take pictures of it. He sometimes showed off a photo of his Filipina wife and shared details of their relationship, according to two former patients.

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In the final stage of the exam, gynecologists often assess the uterus for lumps and other abnormalities by inserting two fingers inside a patient while pressing on her lower abdomen. What troubled chaperones was Tyndall's use of his fingers at the start of the exam. Before inserting a speculum, the metal duck-billed device that spreads open the walls of the vagina and enables the doctor to view the cervix, he would voice concern that the speculum might not fit. "He would put one finger in and say, 'Oh, I think it will fit. Let's put two fingers in,'" said a chaperone who worked with Tyndall for years. Four people familiar with Tyndall's exams said that while he spoke, he was moving his fingers in and out of the patients. They said he made nearly identical statements to hundreds of women as he probed them: My, what a tight muscle you have. You must be a runner.

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During some exams, Tyndall made explicit reference to sexual intercourse while his fingers were inside patients, according to five people who heard the remarks or were told about them.

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Another student, an undergraduate from the Middle East, said that when she went to get a prescription for birth control, Tyndall appeared fixated on her heritage and virginity. She told him she wasn't religious, but he was not deterred, said the student, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "He offered me a little baggie of blood I could pop on my wedding night so my husband would think I was a virgin," she said. "I was weirded out, but I was in a rush to get birth control."

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Gilbert volunteered to assist Tyndall to see his exams firsthand and said she witnessed at least a dozen pelvic exams she felt were inappropriate. In one case, she said, Tyndall removed an intrauterine device from a patient and then asked the young woman if he could keep the used birth-control device, which was covered in blood and tissue.

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A few days later, Gilbert and other staffers noticed a swarm of tiny flies on the second floor of the clinic, multiple employees said. Eventually they traced the infestation to Room 215 — Tyndall's office. The gynecologist was on vacation so Gilbert and other employees unlocked his door to look for the source of the insects. They eventually located a sack of rotten fruit under Tyndall's desk. While searching, they stumbled upon a box in a cabinet containing images of patients' genitals.

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He loses his job, but in true Trojan fashion he vowed to "Fight on!"

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"When I am on my deathbed," he said, "I want to think there are thousands and thousands of Trojan women out there whose health I made a difference in." Tyndall renewed his California medical license in January. He has said he intends to work well into his 80s.

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