NFL Class Action Lawsuit Says League Pushes Pills for Profit

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A group of more than 500 former NFL players has filed a sprawling class action lawsuit against the league, alleging that teams regularly push players to take painkillers and other drugs to keep productive athletes on the field instead of allowing them to rehabilitate their injuries. This has allegedly led to widespread abuse of painkillers by NFL players and long-term injuries.

“In contravention of Federal criminal laws, the NFL has intentionally, recklessly and negligently created and maintained a culture of drug misuse, substituting players’ health for profit,” the NFL class action lawsuit says.

The players allege in the NFL class action lawsuit that “rather than allowing players the opportunity to rest and heal, the NFL has illegally and unethically substituted pain medications for proper health care to keep the NFL’s tsunami of dollars flowing.” Named plaintiffs allege that they played with significant injuries like broken bones while completely unaware because they were provided prescription painkillers like toradol that masked the pain.

This activity reportedly has occurred since 1969, a notable year as it is when the American Football League and the National Football League merged and became a single entity. Pro Bowler Richard Dent, who won the Super Bowl with the Chicago Bears, says that he received “hundreds, if not thousands, of injections from doctors and pills from trainers, including but not limited to [non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs] and Percodan.” Untreated injuries and side effects reportedly let him with an enlarged heart and nerve damage.

A former NFL player who has remained in the public eye, especially with the advent of the NFL concussion class action lawsuits, is plaintiff Jim McMahon, Dent’s teammate on the Chicago Bears team that won the 1985 Super Bowl. Flashy off the field, he took hard hits on it and suffered numerous concussions. A recent ESPN piece included him talking about his inability to remember directions to places around the block and having his girlfriend help him to remeber why he entered a room. McMahon is 54 years old.

While the allegations of the NFL concussion and NFL drug class action lawsuits revolve around separate policies in the NFL, both are predicated on the idea that team officials who were not authorized to do so engaged in alleged drug-pushing and were “substituting players’ health for profit.” The purported result is that players have suffered chronic injuries and require treatment, in some cases for the rest of their lives.

The practice of questionable uses of powerful drugs has even made appearances in popular culture. Whatever its other merits, the movie “Varsity Blues” alluded to the risks of using unprescribed painkillers, with actor Paul Walker’s character warning a teammate that it led to his career-ending injury. Pervasive or not, it appears that usage is not uncommon in locker rooms.

The former NFL players are represented by class action lawyers William N. Sinclair, Steven D. Silverman, Andrew G. Slutkin, Stephen G. Grygiel and Joseph F. Murphy Jr. of Silverman Thompson Slutkin White LLC and Thomas J. Byrne and Mel T. Owens of Namanny Byrne & Owens PC.

The NFL Drug-Pushing Class Action Lawsuit is Richard Dent, et al. v. National Football League, Case No. 14-cv-02324, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.