More than 20 men have joined a lawsuit accusing a second University of Southern California physician of sexual misconduct and discrimination against gay and bisexual students, according to ABC 7 News.
Four things to know:
1. The plaintiffs allege Dennis Kelly, MD, a physician at the Los Angeles-based university, performed unnecessary rectal exams and made inappropriate comments about their sexual orientation and history. The lawsuit also alleges that when the students tried to switch to a different physician, they were told that was not possible and that Dr. Kelly was the only men's health physician on campus, the report states.
2. The initial lawsuit was filed on Feb. 11 with six plaintiffs. Since then, at least 15 others have joined the amended lawsuit, filed March 5.
"Despite receiving repeated complaints regarding Dr. Kelly's misconduct, USC actively and deliberately failed to investigate, discipline, or address Dr. Kelly's sexually abusive and discriminatory behavior and instead, continued to employ Dr. Kelly for years, allowing him unencumbered access to sexually abuse, harass, and discriminate against plaintiffs and other male gay and bisexual USC students in his care," the amended lawsuit states.
3. USC said in a statement to ABC 7 News that it is "working across the university to understand the facts. We care deeply about our entire Trojan family including our LGBTQ+ community and take this matter very seriously."
4. This is the second USC physician to be accused of misconduct during the past several months. Former USC gynecologist George Tindall, MD, was accused of sexual misconduct by scores of current and former students. The university entered into a $215 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit with affected parties last month.
To access the full report, click here.