Charlotte Observer Reviews Records In Panthers Steroid Case

Report Says Shortt Gave NFLers Multiple Refillable Steroid Prescriptions

Medical records made public in court documents in the federal steroid case against Dr. James Shortt reveal that several former NFL Panthers players “were given multiple refillable steroid prescriptions and that some suffered unwanted, appearance-altering symptoms, prompting more prescriptions,” according to Charles Chandler of the CHARLOTTE OBSERVER in a front-page story. Dr. Gary Wadler, who reviewed the medical records and prepared a report for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, said, “Several of them were using disturbing, particularly alarmingly high amounts with high dosages for long durations –- some in combinations. This wasn’t just a passing flirtation with these prohibited substances.” While the players’ names were blacked out in Wadler’s report, Chandler used court records, previous reports and other public records to determine that they were former Panthers offensive linemen Kevin Donnalley, Jeff Mitchell, Todd Steussie and Louis Williams, former Panthers TE Wesley Walls and former Dolphins DT Henry Taylor, who played collegiately at the Univ. of South Carolina. Steussie, now with the Rams, is the only player still active in the NFL. John Milem and Broncos P Todd Sauerbrun, two other former Panthers players “previously identified by prosecutors in court” as having received substances from Shortt, “were not in the report” (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 8/27).

NEED FOR CHANGE: In N.Y., Christian Red wrote incoming NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell “is likely to face a rude honeymoon period” in the wake of the scandal. Wadler: “As I said before the House Government Reform Committee last year, the NFL should be doing blood testing for HGH. The NFL has no way to detect that. ... The second point is that it’s clear these players were on testosterone. So it raises the question — how does that happen?” Wadler added, “I think ultimately it shows that professional sports will have to adhere to the WADA code of testing. This case ... highlights the need for institutional change” (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 8/27). Former Penn State professor Dr. Charles Yesalis said that it is “hard to fathom how two Panthers players could have used stanozolol without failing an NFL drug test if the system works as well as the league suggests” (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 8/27).