To say that Dr. Larry Nassar is a jackal – or worse, is a gross understatement. I will leave all of the horror and hand-wringing to those who make a living out of outrage. As an ethics expert and keynote speaker on the topic of unethical behavior, I am not so 
certain that even if I tried I could not make an impression on Dr. Nassar. He needs the kind of help best suited for psychiatry.
To review, Dr. Nassar is a physician based in Michigan who is accused of not only sexually abusing at least 60 women – some, multiple times but in some cases he recorded the abuse. For those who might buy any alibi that he was following the letter and the law of good medicine, we may wish to also examine the fact that on his private computer the police found more than 37,000 images and videos of pornography of underage girls as young as six.
He was team physician for Olympic gymnasts and other athletes. He worked out of Michigan State University. However, we should not be swayed in any way that his practice was so heavily geared toward the treatment of athletes. Elite athletes are no different than nonathletes in terms of demanding and receiving ethical treatment.
One athlete in particular claimed that she was molested at least 10 times by Nassar while supposedly undergoing treatment for back pain. There is no point in mentioning the young woman’s name nor in describing her “treatment.” Any one of us would scratch our hands in disbelief and disgust. If you want, you can research his “procedure” on any search engine.
Leaving Dr. Nassar
No, this blog is not about how outraged I am at Dr. Nassar, but how angry I am at the adults who let it happen. Nassar may be a sociopath and a sexual deviant, but those who let the abuse happen are unethical as hell, and that is where our outrage should be directed.
For example, I mentioned the woman who was “violated” multiple times. She complained to the university and those on staff ignored her complaints. How does that happen?
She went to two trainers, presumably adults, and one of them was so upset she cried with the victim. She also complained to a supervisor who basically told her that Nassar was a world-renowned physician and she all but told the victim she was out of her mind.
For the university’s part, they are claiming they heard nothing about the complaints until 2014, even though the abuse started in 1998. Nevertheless, they did decide to put another person in the room whenever there was something of a “sensitive nature” in the future, and that the doctor had to explain why the procedure was being done. The university was all too happy to invite the doctor back into the fold after they agreed to these new guidelines.
It would not be until 2015 that USA Gymnastics fired him due to athlete sexual abuse concerns. The firing occurred something like 17 years after the initial complaints. The firing finally prompted an FBI investigation. Incidentally, in 2004 there was police complaint against Nassar in regard to alleged sex abuse. Dr. Nassar never reported it.
After the scandal was blown open, women started coming forward who are now overcome with guilt. A lawyer for the woman whose body was inappropriately “violated,” will bring a total of 15 lawsuits against the doctor in the near future, all generated by other victims.
Some have compared this case to the Jerry Sandusky scandal at Penn State. In certain aspects, this situation is worse. The Sandusky case was horrific, it ruined – and continues to ruin – many lives, but it was uncharted territory. This scandal is not uncharted territory; that is to say that the minute any trainer, administrator, official or parent had heard of any possible impropriety, something needed to be done.
My hunch is that the doctor will serve jail time but his lawyers will undoubtedly claim mitigating circumstances such as mental illness. Perhaps they will be right. However, there needs to be consequences for anyone involved who heard the complaints and did nothing.
A teenage girl comes to you as a trainer or coach or anyone in power and cries that she’s been “violated,” the response isn’t to cry with her. It is not only weak and spineless, it is damned unethical. Do something!
Finally, I understand that those who have not received ethical training may feel they are on shaky ground when approached with such a complaint from an athlete. It is why I endorse ethical training for all training staff, from assistants all the way up to head coaches.
YOUR COMMENTS ARE WELCOME!
