Tebucky sues Pats doctors for 2006 injury misdiagnosis

[pats1]

Tebucky Jones sues Pats doctors | ProFootballTalk.com

Tebucky Jones sues Pats doctors
Posted by Mike Florio on August 9, 2009 12:03 PM ET

It happens once every few years. An NFL player sues the doctors hired by the team to provide medical care.

Typically, the player claims that the doctors committed some type of malpractice in operating on an injury, or that the doctors manipulated a guy's care to get him back on the field.

In the latest case of a lawsuit being filed by a player against a team, the claim is that doctors failed to notice that the player had a torn ACL, thereby preventing the player from getting the condition repaired and continuing his career.

The plaintiff in the present case is former Patriots safety Tebucky Jones. A first-round pick of the team in 1998, the Pats applied the franchise tag to Jones in 2003 and traded him to the Saints for multiple draft picks. After spending two years with the Saints and one with the Dolphins, Jones later returned to the Patriots, signing a two-year contract in 2006.

Jones claims that a leg injury suffered during the 2006 preseason was diagnosed only as a hamstring problem, even though two MRIs allegedly showed that he also had torn the ligament that holds together his knee.

"The biggest pain is I played for three teams and I respected New England the most because I'm from New England," Jones told the Boston Herald. "I got drafted from New England. I won a Super Bowl with New England. I always respected New England. That probably hurts the most."

The suit doesn't name the Patriots as a defendant, presumably because the labor agreement and/or workers' compensation laws supersede any independent rights that Jones would have against the team.

Jones was placed on injured reserve for 2006, and he received his full salary from the team. When he was released the following year, he received $275,000, as required by the labor agreement.

So his primary measure of damages against the doctors will be the difference between his expected salary for 2007 and $275,000, plus anything he would have earned in 2008 or beyond.

Of course, it's unknown whether Jones, 34, otherwise would have been able to play in 2007 or 2008.

Then again, he was still able to swing fists last August.

Here's a link to a photo slideshow of Jones' injury in August 2006:

http://img9.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=jones1.jpg

 

[Gwedd]

Thing is, whatever your feelings are about TeBuck, if his MRI's DID in fact show a tear, and his medical records indicate that the Doctors in questions DID NOT inform him of that, or MISSED seeing that, then he is almost assured of prevailing in his case.

This has really nothing to do with the Patriot's organization, and everything to do with the two doctors who diagnosed his injuries.

respects,

 

[JoeSixPat]

Thing is, whatever your feelings are about TeBuck, if his MRI's DID in fact show a tear, and his medical records indicate that the Doctors in questions DID NOT inform him of that, or MISSED seeing that, then he is almost assured of prevailing in his case.

This has really nothing to do with the Patriot's organization, and everything to do with the two doctors who diagnosed his injuries.

respects,

Yep - pretty much my take upon reading this.

I read once where they have this stuff called "malpractice insurance" because scientific studies have shown that doctors share many traits of the human species and do actually sometimes make mistakes.

I guess the court proceedings will determine if that's what happened here. Aside from that I'm not seeing how this reflects on the organization.

 

[Gwedd]

Yep - pretty much my take upon reading this.

I read once where they have this stuff called "malpractice insurance" because scientific studies have shown that doctors share many traits of the human species and do actually sometimes make mistakes.

I guess the court proceedings will determine if that's what happened here. Aside from that I'm not seeing how this reflects on the organization.

And in the end, the guaranteed winners will the attorneys for both sides.

But yeah, I don't see this reflecting on the Patriots, regardless of Florio's innuendo. IIRC, the Team doctors are contractors, rather than actual employees,although that may have changed.

Respects,

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

And in the end, the guaranteed winners will the attorneys for both sides.



Respects,

Only if Tebucky wins. Personal injury lawyers are usually paid on a contingency basis and if they don't win, they don't get paid and are out the cost of the expert witnesses. The defense attorneys get paid by the insurance companies regardless of outcome..

 

[MoLewisrocks]

I read all this and more on the Herald site late last night. Watched the video too where Tebucky rambles about how significant a player he was (in NE who tagged and traded him to the fools in NO who quickly unloaded him onto the dimwits in Miami who then cut him so he could be re-signed here near the minimum... I think Tebucky circa 2009 has some issues, on and off the field including some he needs $$$ to deal with. His injury is referred to as a "chronic ACL tear", so it's possible he may have come here with. It's not quite the same as an acute ACL tear where you hobble he off the field or are carried off. Those deemed chronic are often the result of an undiagnosed or untreated prior ACL injury. It was his hammy he injured in the 2006 pre season game. The ACL was an older injury and it could be it was missed on his pre signing physical here or maybe they even detected it and were rolling the dice he could play with it (or they would find out in camp he couldn't).

Somehow I smell a money grab out of desperation. Gill and Zarins are pretty well respected in their field. That both would miss this or fail to mention it (unless it was already known to be an pre-existing injury) is a little far fetched.

Tebucky Jones claims Patriots’ docs cut short career - BostonHerald.com

 

[spacecrime]

I read all this and more on the Herald site late last night. Watched the video too where Tebucky rambles about how significant a player he was (in NE who tagged and traded him to the fools in NO who quickly unloaded him onto the dimwits in Miami who then cut him so he could be re-signed here near the minimum... I think Tebucky circa 2009 has some issues, on and off the field including some he needs $$$ to deal with. His injury is referred to as a "chronic ACL tear", so it's possible he may have come here with. It's not quite the same as an acute ACL tear where you hobble he off the field or are carried off. Those deemed chronic are often the result of an undiagnosed or untreated prior ACL injury. It was his hammy he injured in the 2006 pre season game. The ACL was an older injury and it could be it was missed on his pre signing physical here or maybe they even detected it and were rolling the dice he could play with it (or they would find out in camp he couldn't).

Somehow I smell a money grab out of desperation. Gill and Zarins are pretty well respected in their field. That both would miss this or fail to mention it (unless it was already known to be an pre-existing injury) is a little far fetched.

Yeah, because everyone knows that if the Boston Herald prints something, it is true. Jeez, man, have you learned nothing? Reading the Herald a couple years ago and somehow you smell a Lombardi grab by videotaping the other team's walkthrough.

On one hand we have Jones has dumped a ton of his money back into his hometown, trying to help at-risk kids. On the other hand we have the reporting of the Herald.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Yeah, because everyone knows that if the Boston Herald prints something, it is true. Jeez, man, have you learned nothing? Reading the Herald a couple years ago and somehow you smell a Lombardi grab by videotaping the other team's walkthrough.

On one hand we have Jones has dumped a ton of his money back into his hometown, trying to help at-risk kids. On the other hand we have the reporting of the Herald.

Excuse me... The Herald had a lot more detail which is what I read late last night. They are not dumping on him, in fact they seem to be championing him. His suit isn't even filed yet, or if it is no one's been served. They did a lengthy, rambling interview with Tebucky in which he went on and on about how big a deal he was on each of the teams he briefly played for... Like somehow whatever happened in 2006 actually derailed something akin to a HOF career...

 

[JoeSixPat]

Somehow I smell a money grab out of desperation. Gill and Zarins are pretty well respected in their field. That both would miss this or fail to mention it (unless it was already known to be an pre-existing injury) is a little far fetched.

This IS weird... the MRI shows an ACL tear and they tell supposedly him it's a hamstring injury? Does Tebucky have that bad hearing or did they just get him confused with another patient?

 

[Gwedd]

Apparently someone at the herald has seen his medical records and nowhere does it indicate he was informed he had an ACL tear, or was treated for it. It does, however, appear on both of the earlier MRI's.

Either his doctors failed to diagnose it, or they failed to inform him and treat him for it. That's not something you can fake.

respects,

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Apparently someone at the herald has seen his medical records and nowhere does it indicate he was informed he had an ACL tear, or was treated for it. It does, however, appear on both of the earlier MRI's.

Either his doctors failed to diagnose it, or they failed to inform him and treat him for it. That's not something you can fake.

respects,

Normally when you get an MRI there is the written report which details what the doctor reading the test observed and then you discuss it with your personal physician. So Tebucky's MRI would not indicate what if anything his own doctor said to him. Although the doctor likely has notes on the meeting. But the report on the MRI always existed for Tebucky to read at his leisure.

Thing is, the ACL obviously was not injured on the play that landed him on IR. That was a hammy. The ACL tear was already "chronic" as opposed to acute at that point. Here is what Randall Gay had to say shortly thereafter when the team decided to IR him over a troublesome hammy:

“When they put me on IR, Tebucky (Jones) had just had a nagging hamstring injury and then all of a sudden it popped on him real bad,” Gay said. “(Head coach Bill) Belichick saw that and didn’t want it to happen to me. At first it was upsetting, because I wanted to come back quickly, but it was the right call.”

I have a feeling when all is said and done the existence of a "chronic ACL tear" may prove to have been some sort of pre existing condition that if treated when it should have been would have ended Tebucky's career for all intents and purposes before he re-signed here in 2006...

 

[doesntmatter1]

Now we really know why Brady went to see his own doctor for his knee way out in California instead of the team doctors. Its crystal clear now

 

[PatsFanSince74]

A lot of information and a lot interpretations. Sounds like something that the legal process will have to sort out. Best wishes to Jones and hopes for a fair outcome for all involved.

 

[Gwedd]

A lot of information and a lot interpretations. Sounds like something that the legal process will have to sort out. Best wishes to Jones and hopes for a fair outcome for all involved.

Absolutely agree.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

Now we really know why Brady went to see his own doctor for his knee way out in California instead of the team doctors. Its crystal clear now

It might just be a matter of definition, but I think that a "team doctor" is one who works under contract to the team, is in the Training Room, at practice and on the sidelines. I think Brady saw those team doctors for his (accurate) diagnosis but wanted the surgery done by someone other than the surgeon to whom the Patriots wanted to send him in Boston. I don't think that that Boston surgeon was technically a "team doctor," but I could be wrong about that. I get the impression that this was a personal preference on Brady's part to have the surgery done on the West Coast, where he spent the first part of his rehab before returning to the Pats facilities.

Welcome to the board, BTW.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

Tebucky should also be worrying about his son Jr. being charged with beating the sh!t out of a classmate in the locker room at his high school.....not that this has anything to do with his NFL injury but just saying...

 

[Lloyd_Christmas]

Mark me in the camp that believes the ACL tear was a preexsiting condition that he was trying to play through all along and that it WAS the hamstring that he injured in that game.

After he couldn't make the Pats team he signed a letter stating he was well enough to play .... presumably so he could find another team to sign him. Unfortunately for him, no one else was willing to gamble on him given his condition and how it panned out for the Patriots to that point.

The huge flaw, as I see it, is the article calling him a star defensive back. Would you call Eugene Wilson a star defensive back? I personally think he achieved more as a Patriot than Tebucky did. Neither were stars in my book.