Report: DEA conducts surprise inspections of visiting team doctors

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Posted by Mike Florio on November 16, 2014, 6:42 PM EST

Amid allegations that NFL team physicians and athletic training staffs have improperly provided potent pain medications to players, the federal government apparently is taking action. Finally.

 

According to ESPN.com, the Drug Enforcement Administration “conducted surprise inspections” on Sunday. The DEA looked at medical and athletic training staffs of visiting NFL teams, exploring whether federal drug laws were violated. The goal was to determine whether they violated federal drug laws governing the handling and distribution of prescription painkillers.

 

John Barr of ESPN.com reports that the inspections arose from a federal lawsuit filed earlier this year, which claims that team physicians and athletic trainers illegally distributed painkillers to help players continue to play. Barr also reports that DEA agents intended “to inspect the medical bags of visiting team doctors for prescription drugs while alongside Transportation Safety Administration screeners.”

 

It makes sense for the DEA to explore this. What doesn’t make sense is that the DEA waited so long to investigate what has been an open secret for years, if not decades.

 

Surely, the feds knew or should have known or at least should have suspected that something didn’t add up when it comes to football players finding ways to play football while injured. Why did it take a civil lawsuit to light a fire under the authorities to explore something that, if anything, teams quite possibly would have stopped doing now that litigation is being pursued?

 

Source: ProFootballTalk

[Phins4life 271]

Yeah I'm kind of scratching my head on that as well. Better late than never I guess...

[Vin+ 3,121]

 

http://hosted.stats.com/fb/story.asp?i=20141120180125593971208&ref=hea&tm=&src=

 

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) The NFL Players Association told the federal judge hearing a lawsuit against the league that the collective bargaining agreement did not provide a way for the union to press claims by former players that NFL teams routinely mishandled painkillers.

 

The filing Wednesday by the NFLPA came in response to questions raised by U.S. District Judge William Alsup, who said he wanted to determine the union's position in the case before considering the NFL's motion to dismiss. The lawsuit was filed in May in the northern district of California and now includes more than 1,300 former players. Nine players have been named as plaintiffs, including Hall of Fame defensive end Richard Dent.

 

In a hearing last month, the NFL argued it is not responsible for the medical decisions of its 32 teams and, further, that the issue should be addressed by the players' union, which negotiated a collective bargaining agreement that covers players' health.

 

But the union's filing said it "does not believe that any provisions of the current CBA or any provision of any former CBA would cover the specific claims asserted by the putative Dent class, and therefore the NFLPA does not believe that the specific claims asserted by the Dent class were or could have been grieveable."

 

The lawsuit alleges the NFL and its teams, physicians and trainers acted without regard for players' health, withholding information about injuries. At the same time they were handing out prescription painkillers and anti-inflammatories to mask pain and minimize lost playing time. Among other claims, the players contend prescriptions were filled out in their names without their knowledge.

 

Federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents conducted spot checks last Sunday of at least five NFL visiting teams' medical staffs as part of an ongoing investigation. The probe was sparked by claims in the lawsuit from former players, including dozens who said the teams' lax controls over dispensing painkillers continued until 2012. Any violations of the Controlled Substances Act after 2009 could be used in a criminal investigation.

 

There were no arrests made, but DEA spokesman Rusty Payne said Sunday that "agents are currently interviewing NFL team doctors in several locations as part of an ongoing investigation into potential violations of the CSA."

 

The next hearing in the lawsuit has not yet been scheduled.

 

 

 

Rusty Payne.