How Larry Nassar abused hundreds of gymnasts and eluded justice for decades
Just exchange the words “gymnastics” and “Sunday School”. Thankfully, there are not too many opportunities for pelvic exams in Sunday School, but reality is that people can and do work the good cop/bad cop routine to wreak havoc there, too. And if you’ve got a situation, one of the worst things you can do is close ranks and refuse to let the police have their say. Again, the kind of thing Larry Nassar did leaves marks that a doctor can see, and the police can request that information. Churches cannot. It can convict, and it can exonerate.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
Nasser and ABWE missionary Donn Ketchum both attempted to use their M.D. degrees as a cover to conceal their crimes.
Technically, Nassar was a DO (doctor of osteopathy), but the privacy comment is spot on. Nurses and doctors get tested on whether they pull the curtain/shut the door when they enter the room with a patient—which makes it really difficult for many to observe the “two adult rule” that is really the gold standard in church situations. Plus, the doctor is supposed to touch you, which separates that from church situations and school situations, too.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
Larry Nassar’s Boss at Michigan State Said in 2016 That He Didn’t Believe Sex Abuse Claims
Larry Nassar’s longtime boss at Michigan State University told a group of students and administrators in the fall of 2016 that he did not believe female patients who alleged repeated sexual abuse by the former U.S. national gymnastics team doctor, according to two people who said they heard the comments.
William Strampel, who was dean of the osteopathic medical school from 2002 until he stepped down for medical reasons late last year, also indicated that he had not wanted to fire Dr. Nassar two weeks earlier, these people said.
The comments shed new light on the culture at Michigan State, where Dr. Nassar worked and abused patients for years. Public anger has risen recently over both how Dr. Nassar’s crimes went undetected for so long and how slowly university, sports and law-enforcement officials reacted after the allegations were first reported.
The comments were allegedly made in an October 2016 meeting with four students and three other administrators about two weeks after Dr. Nassar was fired by Michigan State, amid a criminal investigation into his conduct. Dr. Nassar pled guilty to abusing dozens of women, many under the pretense of providing medical care.
The meeting was convened not to discuss Dr. Nassar, but rather a male student who had been suspended amid allegations of an abusive relationship with a female student, according to two people who said they were present. In a detailed written account of the meeting those people prepared later, Dr. Strampel expressed concern over the male student’s rights and admonished others for accepting the female student’s account.
“This just goes to show that none of you learned the most basic lesson in medicine, medicine 101, that you should have learned in your first week: don’t trust your patients,” Dr. Strampel is quoted saying. “Patients lie to get doctors in trouble. And we’re seeing that right now in the news with this Nassar stuff. I don’t think any of these women were actually assaulted by Larry, but Larry didn’t learn that lesson and didn’t have a chaperone in the room, so now they see an opening and they can take advantage of him.”
It gets weirder!
In a spring 2005 section of a year-long introductory course on physical examinations taught by Dr. Strampel, for example, a male model hired for students to practice prostate and rectal exams didn’t show up. Dr. Strampel offered himself as the model patient, according to an account written by several students and shared with a longtime faculty member shortly afterward.
According to that letter, he directed his offer at one student, and that student left the room alone with Dr. Strampel and conducted the rectal exam, telling classmates afterward that he was concerned about failing the course if he declined.
The professor who received the letter about the incident characterized it as assault, and said he encouraged them at the time to share the note with law enforcement and media outlets. Other osteopaths contacted by the Journal said it is inappropriate for a professor to ask students to perform such exams on them.
Students in other sections of the same course said they heard about the incident beginning that evening, and expressed surprise that Dr. Strampel didn’t just reschedule the session.
The former student who was identified as performing the rectal exam on Dr. Strampel didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment.
Regarding Jim’s comment, one thing I’ve noted is that the Title IX process—the university process of investigating sexual harassment and assault allegations–may actually help to convict the innocent and release the guilty simply because it’s a parallel investigation that does not have subpoena power (can not compel testimony) and can not collect physical evidence. Hence it’s held hostage to the biases of guys like Strampel. Yikes.
Strampel’s comments, moreover, show not only a callousness to the abused, but a general attitude that ought to be foreign to a doctor—you go in to each appointment thinking your patient is going to lie to you? Seriously? I could go with “sometimes you’re going to have to figure out what the real symptoms are instead of just believing they have the flu” and all that, but lying?
One final note is that I shouldn’t ever complain about my job when I think about the poor guy who skipped work that day…..I’m glad that doctors are trained to do a digital prostate exam and such, as it could save my life, but I’m just as glad that I don’t have to be the guy who’s helping those doctors get trained.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
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