WaitingForNextYear

Unsurprisingly, the Browns will vigorously defend themselves against the allegations of Joe Jurevicius.  As we noted yesterday, Jurevicius claims a “failure to warn” by the Browns and the Clinic and that they did not take every precaution to sterilize their facilities which had been stricken with staph in the past.  This is an incredibly sensitive debate which tends to cause both sides to dig in their heels and defend their argument.  Joe Jurevicius effectively had his career ended by the infection and has had to undergo 6 procedures since the original and relatively routine knee surgery.  The Clinic is a world class hospital which NE Ohio is lucky to have and they are quick to defend their top notch doctors and facilities against any whisper of negligence or malpractice.

The Browns responded today through local   Squire, Sanders & Dempsey rockstar attorney Fred Nance, who, among many other distinctions, was one of the finalists for the NFL Commissioners position to replace Paul Tagliabue.  Nance issued a statement denying the allegations and reiterated that the Browns will vigorously defend against them.  He added:

The Browns are reviewing the allegations of the complaint. We are very comfortable that the practices and equipment at the Browns training facility are and have been fully compliant with all NFL requirements and sound customary practices for training facilities. In fact, an independent professional review earlier this year concluded that the Browns had taken appropriate steps to prevent MRSA infections at their facilities.”

Jurevicius is not attempting to sue the team simply because he contracted staph.  His argument is that he was told (through various training staff, Savage, Crennel) a number of times by a number of different people in a number of different ways that the Browns and the Clinic had addressed the staph problems which had arisen in the past at their facilities.  He relied on these statements which forestalled his other treatment options and settled for the Browns medical staff to treat his injury.  Joe articulated this point in his statement through his attorney

I wanted to play out my career for my hometown team.  I hate that it all came down to this, especially over something preventable.  But this problem goes beyond me — it touches every player who trusts what they are told about the care they are being offered.”

Mike Florio of PFT (also an attorney) wrote this as well:

Regardless of why or how it happened to Jurevicius or any other Browns player, the reality is that it happened.  And that it shouldn’t have happened.  And that it kept happening.  And that nothing the Browns or the Cleveland Clinic did could seem to keep it from continuing to happen…So regardless of how the lawsuit filed by Jurevicius turns out, the fact that it was filed at all could go a long way toward protecting current and future members of the Browns organization from contracting an illness that indeed is, to a large degree, preventable.”

Florio’s presumption is that it is easily and to a “large degree preventable.”  If it were so easily preventable, I would hope a top notch hospital like the Clinic could eradicate the problem quickly and especially avoid the embarrassment in high profile cases with professional athletes.  Also, did Jurevicius ”assume the risk”? On the other hand, the Browns do seem to have this problem much more often than the average NFL team’s medical training staff.

As I stated in the opening paragraph, this is an incredibly sensitive topic.  I tend to be a very opinionated person but I can honestly see both sides of this argument as I have personally known people  who have been on both sides in almost identical cases to Joe J’s.  Both sides get extremely testy and sensitive when you bring it up and are quick to allege and defend.  One should not have to deal with months and years of clean up operations after going in for a routine ACL or knee surgery.  Clinic doctors vehemently defend their work and their hospital and argue that staph can easily be contracted outside of the hospital if the patient does not take the proper care.  While I see both sides of the argument, I tend to come down in support of Jurevicius or the patient but we will see what the legal determination holds.  In any case, it’s more negative press for the Browns on the local and national stage.

(Photo:John Kuntz, The Plain Dealer)