Yet Another USC Doctor Has Been Accused of Sexual Assault

According to Los Angeles Magazine, yet another physician at the University of Southern California has been accused of sexual battery, gender violence, and sexual harassment by multiple former patients.

A student journalism project at the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, The Beacon Project, reports that 48 gay and bisexual men have come forward with stories of abuse at the hands of USC student health center’s Dr. Dennis Kelly—allegations that span over 20 years. As you may recall—most likely because the trial is currently underway—that is the same campus health center where disgraced USC gynecologist George Tyndall worked, a man accused of sexually abusing at least 225 women patients during examinations for decades. Some complaints date back to the 1990s. Last month, Tyndall stood trial and pleaded not guilty to abusing 16 patients.

According to the Beacon Project, five men complained to USC about Kelly’s inappropriate behaviors, which included abuses like unnecessary invasive procedures, “fondling their genitals or making them kneel naked on the exam table for rectal probes,” to no avail. One man said Kelly inserted a rectal probe without informing the patient and asked him, “How often do you let your partner cum in you?”

Kelly has not yet spoken publicly about the report but told a journalist “This is all very traumatic to me,” before asking them to leave. USC refused to answer the Beacon Project’s questions, citing “ongoing litigation.” (Of what? Tyndall? The ongoing college admissions scandal of which USC is at the forefront? The medical school dean Dr. Carmen Puliafito USC allowed to resign in May? The one given a $875,000 severance even after the Los Angeles Times learned he used meth and partied with young addicts? The school seems like a real choose-your-own-adventure of systemic abuses and cover-ups.)

The school did offer the following statement, however: “The university is committed to providing all patients, students, faculty and staff with a culture of respect and support.”