Players' lawsuit made DEA check NFL medical staffs
A football sits near the pylon marking the end zone as teams warms up before an NFL game between the New York Giants and the San Francisco 49ers Sunday, Nov. 16, 2014, in East Rutherford, N.J. Credit: AP
No arrests were made in connection with visits by Drug Enforcement Agency officials to NFL locker rooms over the weekend. But as far as Steve Silverman is concerned, an unmistakable message has been sent.
"I think our clients, which are 1,300-plus former NFL players, have already accomplished one of their primary goals, which is to create public awareness about what's going on inside the NFL bubble and to protect present and future players from the same abuses they suffered,'' said Silverman, a Baltimore-based attorney representing more than 1,300 former players in a class-action lawsuit filed in May.
Silverman's clients alleged that NFL team physicians regularly obtained and administered narcotics and other prescription medication illegally and without telling players of the risks associated with the drugs.
DEA officials visited five teams Sunday -- including the 49ers, who played the Giants at MetLife Stadium -- in a probe that DEA spokesman Rusty Payne said was triggered by the class-action suit.
The former players allege that NFL medical staffs violated state and federal laws in dispensing powerful prescription medication, including Percocet and the painkiller Toradol, to help them deal with injuries and allow them to play.
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said all the teams visited by DEA officials cooperated, and that the league had "no information to indicate that irregularities were found.'' Besides the 49ers, DEA agents met with medical staffs from the Lions, Bucs, Seahawks and Bengals.
Silverman said he heard Thursday from media sources that the DEA may have been planning to visit teams, and suggested the clubs may have been expecting them. "If Steve Silverman in Baltimore had a head's-up,'' he said, "I can't imagine the teams didn't have a head's-up.''
Payne did not return a telephone message to clarify whether the DEA may have tipped anyone off to the visits. The inspections, part of a broader investigation by the DEA, are expected to continue.
Most of the inspections were barely noticeable. Niners coach Jim Harbaugh said he didn't know about it until he read news accounts.
After the Bengals were checked out in New Orleans and DEA spokeswoman Debbie Webber said they were in compliance, the team said: "The Bengals have never had any issues regarding prescriptions / controlled substances.''
But Silverman believes the NFL must address what he contends has been a culture of abuse among many teams' medical staffs when it comes to dispensing medication without fully informing the players of the risks associated with the substances.
"Our players have always understood that sometimes, they may have to play hurt,'' said Silverman, whose clients in the case include former Bears Richard Dent and Jim McMahon, ex-Charger Marcellus Wiley and former 49er Jeremy Newberry.
"But they wanted to make an informed decision on whether or not taking certain cocktails of medication and painkillers was in their best interests. They were never provided any information on the risks of ingesting what doctors that they trusted told them to ingest. Many of them might have made different decisions . . .
"There are many young men still in their 30s that are suffering renal failure and have had kidney transplants or have even died as a result of levels of Toradol that their kidneys could not process.''
"Marcellus Wiley and Jeremy Newberry in our complaint are both men under 40 who suffered renal failure. Their lives are going to be cut short as a result of what team doctors gave them, and they never had an informed choice to make because no one explained the risks.''
The NFL has sought to dismiss the case, claiming it is not responsible for its teams' medical decisions. League attorneys also believe the issue should be addressed through the NFL Players Association.
Silverman said he believes the former players "have the moral high ground'' and that the DEA's spot checks over the weekend underscore that sentiment.
"I think the point of to let the NFL understand that there are federal laws in this country to protect individuals from the abuses of controlled, dangerous substances and prescription medication, and that these laws are going to be enforced,'' he said.
"That's what the players in our lawsuit are most concerned about.''
Bob Glauber retired in 2022 after covering the NFL for nearly 40 years. He was selected in 2021 for the Bill Nunn Career Achievement Award by the Pro Football Writers of America, and is a three-time winner of the New York State Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. President of the PFWA for the 2018-20 seasons, he is the author of “The Forgotten First” and “Guts and Genius.”
