Derek Boogaard's Family Is Suing The NHL For Wrongful Death

[Drake]

It contends that the N.H.L. is responsible for the physical trauma and brain damage that Boogaard sustained during six seasons as one of the league’s top enforcers, and for the addiction to prescription painkillers that marked his final two years.

“To distill this to one sentence,” said William Gibbs, a lawyer for the Boogaards, “you take a young man, you subject him to trauma, you give him pills for that trauma, he becomes addicted to those pills, you promise to treat him for that addiction, and you fail.”

In 55 pages of detailed accusations, the suit does not seek specific damages to be awarded to Boogaard’s parents and four siblings. It asks that a trial jury determine “a sum in excess of the minimum jurisdictional limit” for each of eight counts in the suit.

While this Boogaard lawsuit is broadly aimed at the N.H.L., it details the care that Boogaard received from specific team doctors of the Rangers and the Minnesota Wild, and the co-directors and a primary counselor of the league’s Substance Abuse and Behavioral Health Program, which oversaw Boogaard’s care after he entered rehabilitation while playing for the Wild in September 2009.

The lawsuit notes that Boogaard played in 277 N.H.L. games over six seasons and scored three goals. He fought at least 66 times on the ice and, according to the suit, “was provided copious amounts of prescription pain medications, sleeping pills, and painkiller injections by N.H.L. teams’ physicians, dentists, trainers and staff” to combat the injuries and pain he endured.

The suit also says that Boogaard was prescribed 1,021 pills from about a dozen doctors during the 2008-9 season with the Wild. At the end of that season, after operations on his nose and his shoulder, doctors prescribed Boogaard 150 pills of oxycodone over 16 days, the suit alleges.

It states that the N.H.L. “breached its duty” to Boogaard by, among other things, failing to monitor his prescriptions or establish proper procedures for administering and tracking them. It alleges that the substance-abuse program knew that Boogaard violated its rules many times — including a series of failed drug tests in his final months and his admission that he sometimes bought painkillers illegally — yet never disciplined or suspended him, as program rules dictate.

The lawsuit also says that the N.H.L. should have known that “enforcers/fighters” had increased risk for injuries, concussions and addiction.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/13/sp...-nytimes&_r=1&

[CaptainCrunch]

Jumping jesus, this is a major suit and opens up the way for a lot of other lawsuits if its successful, this could also open the way for possible Congressional Hearings because they love this stuff.

Part of me thinks its about choices by the player to take up that role as an enforcer, but did anyone at anytime maybe sit Boogaard down and tell him that it was time to stop.

Ugly death ugly story.

[puckluck2]

Good. Hope they win.

[Alberta_Beef]

this is bunk. it's an accidental suicide, he drank too much while taking powerful pills, some of which he obtained illegally through no other than a family member.

[mustache ride]

Originally Posted by puckluck2

Good. Hope they win.

Why?

[Erick Estrada]

No different than Junior Seau's family suing the NFL as lawyers see the opportunity of $$$. I'm sure money will be exchanged but at the end of the day people die all the time from prescription overdose and sometimes you have to accept that the sysem failed the individual but the individual also failed himself as it only works if both parties make it work.

[puckluck2]

Originally Posted by mustache ride

Why?

Why not? The NHL wants goons and guys dedicated to punching each other in the head then what do they expect? You'll need lots of pain killers as a goon in the NHL and until they ban fighting then they need to face the consequences of allowing fighting in the NHL. Unfortunately this was one of those incidents they need to own up to.

And from a lot of accounts from former players sleeping pills and pain killers are used by pretty much everyone. Is the NHL doing enough to change that? Or are they encouraging it? Guess a judge will decide but it's more likely the NHL will want to sweep this under the rug and pay up before it reaches court.

[Hemi-Cuda]

I hope they win simply because that might dissuade NHL teams from signing players whose sole responsibility is to punch people in the face. I'm not against fighting, but the days of the goon should be over

[Drury18]

There's two things that stand out in that statement that make me think this is bogus:

The lawsuit notes that Boogaard played in 277 N.H.L. games over six seasons and scored three goals. He fought at least 66 times on the ice and, according to the suit, “was provided copious amounts of prescription pain medications, sleeping pills, and painkiller injections by N.H.L. teams’ physicians, dentists, trainers and staff” to combat the injuries and pain he endured.

Trainers/Athletic Therapists have no medical authority to prescribe or administer drugs and most that I know in the NHL will not give them anything more then Tylenol or Advil. NATA and CATA have no tolerance for
Athletic Trainers playing pharmacist. And "staff" like coaches, equipment managers or GM's. It seems highly unlikely as he was not an elite player that trainers or staff would be giving him anything under the table. He would have been sent to the Team Physician if he was wanting any sort of drugs.

The suit also says that Boogaard was prescribed 1,021 pills from about a dozen doctors during the 2008-9 season with the Wild. At the end of that season, after operations on his nose and his shoulder, doctors prescribed Boogaard 150 pills of oxycodone over 16 days, the suit alleges.

The Minnesota Wild currently list 7 people (3 Surgeons, 2 Dentists, 1 Team Physician and a Medical Director) with doctorates and the possible ability to prescribe pills on their roster. Who are the other 5 people he saw that allegedly prescribed him pills? And again, rarely would you be seeing one physician without them knowing what you are currently on. NHL records are meticulous about what the player is taking and who prescribed it. Being he was also in the NHL Drug Program, they would have been watching him even closer. Him going to 12 doctors and getting a stockpile of drugs seems almost impossible. It's not like the normal person hopping from walk in clinic to walk in clinic and getting prescriptions.


Then you have this:

It states that the N.H.L. “breached its duty” to Boogaard by, among other things, failing to monitor his prescriptions or establish proper procedures for administering and tracking them. It alleges that the substance-abuse program knew that Boogaard violated its rules many times — including a series of failed drug tests in his final months and his admission that he sometimes bought painkillers illegally — yet never disciplined or suspended him, as program rules dictate.

This just doesn't add up. When you throw the brother into the mix and the charges and possibly getting rid of the brothers stash, it really seems that most of these pills were obtained outside of what he was getting from the NHL.

[Hair bleach and Vodka]

I've dealt with addiction since late 2006. I've been clean from regular use since mid-2009. I do understand where they're coming from. I think this is a sick, sick mess.

I pray the family comes to terms with the fact that Derek had choices in this. I'm also disgusted that he fell through the cracks and wasn't found out to be a risk factor for abuse.

I hope the family heals. Your beloved son is gone.. his memory needs to show light and has to be a beacon for those dealing with similar issues. Ugh, I just hope healing can happen--without it, not just Derek is lost.

[Drury18]

One other thing of note: Boogaard's death happened on the first night of the second unsupervised recess he was granted while in the NHL Drug Rehabilitation program. The Ranger's had sent him there seeing he was in poor shape, the program decided to grant him the leaves and he died during the second leaves.

The NHL DOES NOT run this program, they are run by a licensed medical facility. Typically a "proper" drug/alcohol addiction program within a hospital or other medical facility. The NHL had done its part to get him help. They placed him in the facility. While in the care of help, he passed. To me, this is the NHL doing its due diligence to assist the player. You can't force someone to change, you can just keep offering help, which the NHL did. The failure either happened within the program at the facility letting him out when he was still very unwell or the player's unwillingness to internalize what the program was trying to help him with.

[mustache ride]

I just have such a hard time rationalizing how Boogaard is a victim here. Everything about this screams out for personal responsibility. He had so many chances to make the right choice and so many avenues to get help. But at the end of the day he made one bad choice to many and paid for it with his life. But it was his choice, mistake and fault. No one else is to blame but him.

[GGG]

If multiple team doctors over perscribed him medication I can see there being some liability. I dont think this is about cash as Bougaard was well paid. More so it is about answers to why as part of the grieving process.

[Manhattanboy]

I believe a movie is already in the works.

[Hair bleach and Vodka]

Originally Posted by Manhattanboy

I believe a movie is already in the works.

If we don't have explosions every 2 minutes and piss poor acting, I suppose it could be worth it. No vampires either.. that'd just be weird.

[browna]

Boogaard had over 1100 PIM's in junior/ECHL (240 minutes in 33 games!)/AHL; twice as many PIM's that he got in the NHL, in less games than he played in the NHL; I don't think those accumulated minutes were on hooking or holding penalty calls.

Yet only the NHL is being sued for all the "physical" trauma that he encountered, and the subsequent pill addiction that the family claims? He fought a lot more and a lot more often in the lower leagues, and had a lot less people watching him when playing in Houston or Louisiana, and was thus likely well into his addictions and issues before he stepped foot in the NHL.

So even if you want to argue that this should fall entirely on the league and there is no personal responsibility on his part (which is false), how, outside of money, is the NHL the only ones blamed and on trial here?

[united]

Originally Posted by Drury18

Who are the other 5 people he saw that allegedly prescribed him pills?

I think I remember reading in some of the articles that came out shortly after his death that he saw opposing teams' doctors while on the road to get drugs. That could explain how there is so many.

[Calgary4LIfe]

I doubt the family is after 'money'. They are after some type of closure, and for the death of a loved family member mean something.

I am not sure I can say I want the family to win, or the NHL to win. They have both lost. A family has lost a member, and the NHL has been tarnished in the process, and took some bad publicity.

I just hope that the NHL clamps down on what doctors are doing with respect to the players, and players are being taken care of better. There is no 'winning' on either side I think. There is only trying to make things right moving forward.

[Cleveland Steam Whistle]

This is a tough one. I always struggle with the whoa is me kind of stories you hear about NHL tough guys. The stories that are told with the angle of the "poor guys just trying to earn a living" fighting in the NHL, had no other choice, somebody should have looked out for him stuff. I always take a step back and go give me a break. We aren't talking about a last resort in terms of life options when we are talking about a choice to stick in the NHL. That's a choice one makes to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars, not to merely scrape by. There are other jobs to do in this world, they choose to take the punishment to earn big cash, NHL tough guy isn't anyone's last resort. So in that regards, these guys need to take responsibility for the choices they made / make.

On the other hand, if team and league doctors aren't doing the right things, and aren't looking out for the players best interest when they treat them, that is something that needs to be addressed and is a valid complaint. These guys should be able to trust that the doctors employed to help the will do just that.

[Jake]

To me, if Boogaard was wrongly prescribed medications and the doctors were negligent, they should be responsible, not the NHL. Doctors have their own professional organizations that deal with this.