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Op-Ed: I was a patient of USC gynecologist George Tyndall. The pelvic exam he gave me was anything but normal

LOS ANGELES , CA MAY 12, 2018 -- Engemann Student Health Center on the campus of the USC.
LOS ANGELES , CA MAY 12, 2018 -- Engemann Student Health Center on the campus of the USC.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
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How many pelvic exams does a woman have in her lifetime? Why should one in particular stand out?

Even at the time it didn’t feel right, back when I was a 25-year-old theater student at USC. Today, 16 years later, I’m a women’s health nurse practitioner who has performed thousands of pelvic exams. I’m a person who knows in great detail what is and is not a typical part of an exam. And I know that what happened to me was not normal.

When someone shared a news article about the investigation of a USC doctor, Dr. George Tyndall immediately came to mind. As I read the details in the article, my blood ran cold.

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I’d come to USC’s student health center for an annual exam. Tyndall reviewed my medical history and then instructed me to undress behind a curtain that separated his office space from the exam space. I recall thinking to myself: “Is it weird that this middle-aged dude sits on the other side of this thin piece of fabric while young women disrobe?” But I pushed those thoughts aside and sat upon the crinkly paper covering the exam table.

The first thing I remember about the exam is that prior to inserting the speculum, he placed his fingers in my vagina and did something that caused a distinct pain. “Ow!” I said. There seemed to be surprise in his voice as he asked, “Did that hurt?” I replied that it had. He repeated the motion and asked again, “This hurts?” Again I replied that it did.

Then he said, “I thought you said you weren’t a virgin.” I replied that I was not. “Well,” he told me, “your hymen is still intact.”

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I was confused by this statement. I’d had only one sexual partner, but we’d had sex on multiple occasions. The first time it had hurt, there had been blood and a stinging sensation when I urinated afterward — surely that had been my hymen rupturing. I don’t recall exactly the words he used, but Tydall’s message was: I don’t know what to tell you, your hymen is intact. And because he was a doctor who had access to, and knowledge of, parts of my genital anatomy that I did not, I believed him and tucked that piece of information into the back of my mind.

FULL COVERAGE: USC former gynecologist Dr. George Tyndall accused of inappropriate behavior

When I recall the events of that exam through my trained eyes, I’m left with a sad, sinking feeling in my gut. I know far more about female genital anatomy now. And because bodies have the ability to remember pain even years after it occurred, I also know where I felt pain that day. It was not near the location of my hymen, it was deeper than that, on the anterior vaginal wall — an area commonly known as the G spot. Palpation of the G spot in a completely asymptomatic woman is not part of a normal pelvic exam, not even a very thorough normal pelvic exam.

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There are legitimate reasons a healthcare provider might place fingers in a woman’s vagina during a pelvic exam: to evaluate a history of pain in a specific area or a lump, or to evaluate for vaginismus. But that would be indicated only for women exhibiting symptoms. Some providers routinely perform a bimanual exam to check the uterus and ovaries and some routinely evaluate pelvic floor muscles, but let me be clear, Tyndall was doing none of these things in the moment I am describing.

Did he make up the story about my hymen to cover for the pain he inflicted? Did he get some thrill talking to a young woman about virginity while doing this? I’ll never know — and honestly I don’t care to. Tyndall told the Los Angeles Times that he did nothing wrong. USC has called his actions “physical exams [that] did not meet current practice standards.” What I know is that he touched me inappropriately and gave me inaccurate information about my body.

I am writing this as a victim, yes, but also as a women’s healthcare provider who spends her days making sure women have a safe, comfortable and respectful experience during a pelvic exam. I want the other women violated by Tyndall at USC to know they were not confused. Tyndall used his position as a doctor and his knowledge of what could be considered normal in an exam to exploit women. What happened in my case — and I can only speculate happened in so many other cases like mine — was not normal and was not acceptable.

Tyndall was quoted in The Times as saying: “When I am on my deathbed … I want to think there are thousands and thousands of Trojan Women out there whose health I made a difference in.” His time would be better spent seeking forgiveness from those whose trust he betrayed. He did a grave disservice to his profession and to all the women’s healthcare providers who hold sacred the trust placed in them by patients.

Cate Guggino is a women’s health nurse practitioner in Ithaca, N.Y.

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