School: Doctor destroyed records after player's death

School: Doctor destroyed records after player's death June 3, 2003 SportsLine.com wire reports

CHICAGO -- A Northwestern University doctor destroyed records of a routine physical exam of a football player who died three weeks later during practice, the school said Tuesday.

The doctor, Mark Gardner, also indicated he knew Rashidi Wheeler had been taking dietary supplements, according to a deposition taken in a lawsuit Wheeler's family filed against Northwestern, the Chicago Tribune reported Tuesday.

School lawyers contend ephedra-containing supplements caused the player's death in 2001.

"The destruction of medical records obviously is against university policy, and that destruction was done without anyone at the university, other than Dr. Gardner of course, having any prior knowledge of it," university spokesman Alan Cubbage said.

Cubbage said Northwestern filed court documents as early as July 2002 indicating that records of the physical no longer existed.

James Montgomery, an attorney for Wheeler's mother, told the Tribune that Northwestern knew the records had been destroyed but failed to inform his client.

"Dr. Gardner will be giving his deposition at some point in the litigation and will state his position," Donohue said.

Gardner, the former director of student health services at Northwestern, took a leave of absence four days after Wheeler's death and resigned last year.

Wheeler's parents sued Northwestern, claiming the university did not give their son proper medical attention.

Wheeler collapsed during conditioning drills on Aug. 3, 2001. Bronchial asthma was listed as the cause of death, although toxicology reports showed he had ephedrine in his system.

Ephedrine is the active compound in ephedra, a diet supplement blamed for nearly 120 deaths. It also is suspected in the death of Baltimore Orioles pitcher Steve Bechler.

Gardner performed a physical on Wheeler on July 12, 2001, Cubbage said. The university tried to find out what happened to the records of that physical, but Gardner's attorney and his doctor prevented the school from speaking with him until April 2002, he said.

And aspirin doesnt wreak havoc on heart rythyms, et al.

Aspirin gives me hives, a potentially dangerous condition, so I don't often use it. From the small amount of deaths attributed to Ephedra, you have to allow that people should be able to decide that it might not be good for them and expect them to not take stupid risks if they have other problems. Not long back, salt was on the demon's list because it "caused high blood pressure". It was a few years before they finally came around to admitting that it didn't cause high blood pressure, but it did aggravate the condition in some folks who already had problems and had other factors that made salt a bad thing for them...

Ephedrine is used as an ingredient in bronchial dilators used to control symptoms related to shortness of breath primarily caused by asthma. Products sold as bronchial dilators, containing ephedrine as a main working ingredient, can be easily obtained in many places where it would otherwise not be due to its effects as a stimulant.

Mahaung is an herb containing high levels of working ephedrine. Herbal supplements containing mahaung can be obtained easily as well.

It may be possible to restrict the availability of processed ephedrine packaged specifically as a stimulant. However, I would think it would be very difficult to change the availability of ephedrine in these other two forms.

Ephedrine (mahaung) is most powerful as a stimulant and most dangerous when taken in combination (or stacked) with aspirin (willow bark) and caffeine (gaurana).

Some people seem to be able to handle ephedrine with fewer undesirable side effects than others. Some people can also handle the ephedrine stack easier than others. Some people can take the stack every day for years, the same way as most people would perhaps drink a cup of coffee. Some people try ephedrine once and suffer a heart attack.

Taking this stack is about the closest you can legally get to amphetamines. It is very useful to people trying to increase their physical output, therefore popular with pro and amateur athletes. It is also very useful to people trying to stay focused and on task despite lack of sleep, making it popular with students. It also is a proven method of weight loss, the easy and effective way to ‘fitness’ for the fat and lazy.

I will make my own decisions for myself, thank you very much. It amazes me that so many here understnad that there may be an agenda in what is reported, or that at the very least reporters are lazy so they are easily taken advantage of, when it comes to political matters. Once the topic turns to issues of health, the parroting by the media of the claims by those with a vested interest suddenly becomes gospel.

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