As the two-year anniversary of Rashidi Wheeler’s death passed Aug. 3, an increasingly bitter legal battle focused on the disappearance of medical records from the former Northwestern safety’s last physical.
Dr. Mark Gardner, former director of Searle Student Health Services, testified in a closed hearing July 17 that he acted alone in burning medical records from the July 12, 2001 physical he performed on Wheeler. The records might have shown whether Wheeler was taking supplements that could have led to his death barely three weeks later.
The lawsuit, filed by Wheeler’s mother, Linda Will, claims NU was negligent in Wheeler’s death after collapsing on a campus practice field Aug 3, 2001. Although an autopsy found the cause of death to be bronchial asthma, the university blames supplements containing the NCAA-banned substance ephedra they claim Wheeler was taking.
Gardner, who said he was very fond of Wheeler, said he drove to the Skokie Lagoons in Winnetka and cried for 1 1/2 hours before burning the records. He later checked himself into a hospital, where he was treated for three weeks, attorneys at the hearing said.
The university supports Gardner’s statement that he acted independently in destroying the records.
“Dr. Gardner has confirmed that no one at Northwestern authorized, participated in or had prior knowledge (that Gardner was going to destroy the records),” said Alan Cubbage, NU vice president for university relations.
But Wheeler’s parents, Will and George Wheeler, suspect the university was involved. Will said that on the day Gardner burned the records, he met with Amy Mayber, NU’s associate general counsel, and with William Banis, vice president for student affairs.
Will said NU did not allow her attorneys, Johnnie Cochran and James Montgomery, to question Gardner regarding the events of July 12.
“He was their employee. He didn’t do anything on his own,” Cochran told reporters July 30. “Let’s make it clear: When he is their agent and works for them, what he does is for them.”
Under Illinois law, the jury that hears the case will be instructed to infer that the July 12 medical records contained information that was damaging to Gardner and NU.
Other summer developments in the case:
July 15: Cook County Circuit Court Judge Kathy Flanagan ordered a retired judge to monitor all court participants at future hearings following heated arguments between Will and NU lawyers.
Will’s attorneys argued that Mayber, a lawyer for NU, mouthed the word “bitch” at Will during a June 23 deposition. Mayber denies using any vulgarity.
The judge also blasted NU officials for bringing armed officers to hearings and denied the university’s request to bar Wheeler’s mother from future depositions.
Flanagan called the parties’ behavior “ludicrous.”
July 30: Will’s attorneys added more defendants to the lawsuit, including Gardner, team physician Dr. Howard Sweeney, four ephedra manufacturers, and GNC, the store where Wheeler bought several supplements.
Cochran said the focus remains on the university, and that the additions were made to beat the two-year statute of limitations for adding defendants. The suit already names head coach Randy Walker, former Director of Athletics Rick Taylor and team trainer Tory Aggeler.
