Ex-PSU physician granted $5.25 M in termination fit

• Paula Lavigne, ESPN

  • Investigative ReporterMay 29, 2024, 11:25 PM ET Close Information expert and reporter for ESPN’s Business and Investigative Unit.
  • Winner, 2014 Alfred I. duPont Columbia University Award; finalist, 2012 IRE broadcast award; winner, 2011 Gannett Structure Award for Innovation in Watchdog Journalism; Emmy nominated, 2009.

A jury Wednesday found in favor of a former Penn State athletics group medical professional who declared head football coach James Franklin hindered medical treatment and return-to-play choices and that he was eliminated as group physician in retaliation for grumbling about Franklin.A Dauphin County

jury in Harrisburg awarded orthopedic cosmetic surgeon Dr. Scott Lynch $5.25 million in punitive and compensatory damages. Testimony during the seven-day trial consisted of former Penn State players, medical professionals, athletic fitness instructors, university system authorities and others talking about examples of injuries and medical decisions.Lynch said in a phone call with ESPN that he hopes the decision will trigger an investigation by the NCAA, which has had a policy guaranteeing self-reliance of sports medicine staff considering that 2016.”There’s not yet been one school penalized for breaching medical autonomy issues,”he said.Editor’s Picks 1 Related”This is bigger than just Penn State. It’s really a nationwide crisis and things need to alter,”he stated

. He said he hoped the size of the money granted in his case would prompt schools to pay more attention to this issue.Lynch filed suit in August 2019, about 6 months after being removed as football team orthopedic physician and director of athletic medication at

Penn State, a position he had held since 2014. Lynch was suing Penn State Health’s Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and Dr. Kevin Black, the supervisor who revealed his elimination. His supervisors stated at the time that the university desired a doctor who lived in State College; Lynch was commuting from his home about 100 miles away in Hershey, Penn.While Franklin and Penn State University were referenced in the lawsuit, both were dismissed as accuseds in 2020 due to the statute of restrictions, and Franklin was not called to affirm at the trial.

It’s unclear whether the verdict will lead to any action relating to Franklin; a representative for Penn State University did not right away respond to a request for remark Wednesday night.Lynch said he reported Franklin’s attempts to interfere to officials within both athletics and Penn State Health, consisting of Black, and he believed his removal in spring 2019 was in retaliation for challenging Franklin.During his statement, Lynch checked out from an email he wrote to the university’s previous stability officer Bob Boland on Jan. 31, 2019, in which he alleged that Franklin’s impact on then-athletic director Sandy Barbour caused his removal as team doctor. He likewise check out from an email

he wrote in 2015 to Boland’s predecessor, Julie Del Giorno, in which he expressed comparable concerns about pressure from Franklin.After his removal, Lynch stated he made suggestions to Black to strengthen the sports medication staff’s medical autonomy and enhance athlete medical treatment, but Black did not execute them, triggering him to take legal action against.”We require to get back to the right concepts, stop hiding things, let things come out, be transparent and attempt to fix the issue, “Lynch affirmed.”I’m disgusted.”Dr. Peter Seidenberg, who worked for the Penn State College of Medication for eight years and was the medical care doctor who worked along with Lynch, explained an incident in which an athlete had a high-ankle sprain and wasn’t cleared to play, but Franklin”was attempting to affect medical decision … We were being pressured to release the athlete.”

Previous athletic fitness instructor Tim Bream testified about a March 2017 conversation about a player who he stated needed shoulder surgical treatment. Franklin was opposed.”He had a strong opinion of what he wished to have done, and he tried to insert that into making us see his way, which was not in the best interest of the athlete,”Bream said.He and Seidenberg likewise discussed a football player who attempted suicide in October 2017 and was admitted to inpatient psychiatric care. Bream and Seidenberg described a meeting with Lynch, Franklin, Barbour and others in which Franklin desired the doctors to clinically disqualify the professional athlete, who was still undergoing treatment, so that Franklin might use his scholarship for another player.

On interrogation by a defense lawyer, Lynch said in that case the player would still get totally free tuition from Penn State.Multiple witnesses went over a provision in the university’s contract with Nike, which depended on$1.6 million by 2018, that prohibited”spatting,”or the practice of wrapping athletic tape around professional athletes’ankles for greater support. The tape wasn’t allowed to cover the Nike logo design on any shoes, according to witness statement regarding the contract, which interfered with the actions of athletic fitness instructors and other medical staff.Seidenberg stated a Nike representative spoke with a group of athletic trainers, listed the professional athletes who had actually been spatted the weekend before, “and asked why the professional athletes were spatted and stated that the professional athletes need to not be spatted.”He said Franklin required notice weekly of players who were designated to be taped.”Coach Franklin did not want the medical personnel to spat,”Seidenberg testified.” He was concerned about the Nike contract.”But defense lawyer presented evidence of athletes, consisting of former Penn State running back Saquon Barkley, whose ankles were taped– with logos visible– and explained a provision in the agreement that permitted discrepancies due to physician-approved medical necessity.Barkley, who now bets the Philadelphia Eagles, affirmed in support of Franklin and said he never felt pushed by the coach regarding treatment he had for injuries.Jurors likewise heard about– and directly from– former Penn State player Rob Windsor, who suffered a knee injury resulting in a torn meniscus and said he felt forced to return to play.Defense lawyer Sarah Bouchard attempted to present Lynch as somebody who had bad communication with Franklin, which led to their disputes, and that his not being on school every day– due to his long commute– added to that breakdown.

She pointed out the case involving Windsor, noting that Franklin was upset that Lynch wasn’t in State College to go over Windsor’s alternatives.” And you told the jury on Friday that Coach Franklin hung up on you,”she said.”That’s my presumption,”Lynch stated.” And can all of us concur that nobody can hang up on you if you’re speaking personally?”she countered.Another defense attorney, Jan Budman, in his questioning of Seidenberg, recommended Franklin was asking concerns concerning players ‘injuries simply” because he desired more details.””Coaches can ask concerns to find out more, and coaches do. It was the manner in which questions were asked and what was mentioned when he didn’t like the answer,”Seidenberg said.” If a coach does not like a medical opinion and he acts madly towards the medical staff because of that opinion and after that attempts

to pressure the medical personnel, that’s inappropriate.”