In secret testimony, Caruso was grilled about what USC knew about disgraced gynecologist Dr. George Tyndall, who was sentenced to 6 months in jail for sexually abusing patients. While Caruso did not provide any names of patients, he did claim in a letter to then USC president Joseph E. Aiello that he had “talk[ed] to many of these people” but that “it [was] impossible for [them] to identify their names because [he] did not know their last names.” Caruso also admitted to Aiello that he “did not know of any wrongdoing by Dr. Tyndall.”
However, documents show that in 1996, Caruso was told by USC’s own investigators that “a number of Tyndall’s patients were being treated at the USC Medical Center and that this was the reason for Tyndall’s resignation.” Specifically, the document claims that a University official reported to the Los Angeles Police Department that he suspected “at least one woman in their [sic] Tyndall’s care was raped or sexually abused but that he could not get to the bottom of it because he was denied access to the police files on Tyndall.” Caruso had also complained to USC Chancellor James D. Young about the lack of transparency in the University hospital:
Dr. Caruso met with Dr. Tyndall to work out their differences. During that meeting, Dr. Caruso accused Dr. Tyndall of sexually abusing numerous patients who were treated by Dr. Tyndall from February 1984 to July 1988. Dr. Tyndall denied the allegations in his complaint and stated that he did not examine patients on the USC campus. Based on Caruso’s account, Tyndall wrote a letter to Caruso saying that “I have never engaged in any sexual acts with any of my patients or anyone at USC.” He also stated that “I have told the USC administration that you are attempting to destroy my reputation.” Caruso was not told the names of the patients Caruso had told of the alleged crimes