The NFL Players Association, the labor union representing professional football players, said Friday it is alarmed by some of the details unearthed in a federal lawsuit filed that alleges clubs and their medical staffs violated federal laws and improperly administered powerful pain medication to its players and vowed to moniter the case.
“The NFLPA is alarmed by the revelations in the lawsuit filed by former NFL players on the abuse of prescription drugs,” the union said in a statement Friday. “While we are not a party to the case, the reporting by The Washington Post and Deadspin are cause for our continued concern and vigilance for holding the league accountable to its obligations. We will monitor this case closely and take all steps necessary to ensure the health and safety of our players.”
The statement comes in the wake of a Post report published Thursday evening that revealed details and communications involving team and league officials related to the handling and administration of pain medication that had been redacted in a court filing related to the lawsuit. The Post was able to view the full document due to a technical error in the filling and reported:
— The average NFL team distributed nearly 8,000 powerful doses of prescription-strength non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and controlled medications in a single season, according to a 2013 league memo cited in the case.
— Club and league officials acknowledged at various times they weren’t always in compliance with federal regulations that govern controlled substances, particularly in areas of distribution, record-keeping and transport, according to the complaint.
— The league received warnings and instruction on proper practices with prescription drugs and controlled substances and at times was slow to respond or failed to comply.
— Practices varied from team to team and the attitudes surrounding pain medication was at times cavalier. For example, one NFL trainer said in an email about the league “pill counters”: “Don’t worry, I’m pretty good at keeping them off the trail!”.
An NFL spokesman called the ex-players claims “meritless” and said teams’ medical staffs “continue to put the health and safety of our players first, providing all NFL players with the highest quality medical care. Any claim or suggestion to the contrary is simply wrong.”
The filing was made by lawyers representing 1,800 former players suing the teams in U.S. District Court, claiming they suffer organ and joint damage as a result of improper treatment they received during their playing careers.
Much of the material was collected by the players’ attorneys as part of the discovery process in the case, which included depositions with at least 11 team and league medical officials and the collection of “hundreds of thousands of pages of documents.”