Boston Herald Story On Reggie Lewis' Doctors

[Way Of The Ray <wayray@ix.netcom.com>]

                  Boston Herald
                  12/29/98

                  Reggie Lewis doctors seeking college reports on alleged
                  cocaine use
                  by Andrea Estes

                  Tuesday, December 29, 1998

                  Lawyers defending four Boston doctors sued by Reggie
                  Lewis's widow are battling Northeastern University for
                  records they believe will help them prove the former
                  Boston Celtics star took cocaine while a student there.

                  The lawyers are seeking documents, including a possible
                  flunked drug test, collected by a Blue Ribbon Commission
                  on Athletics that investigated allegations of drug use by
                  players. The school has agreed to turn them over, but only
                  if they are kept confidential. They say disclosure of the
                  top-secret materials - only two copies of the final report
                  exist - would make it impossible for the school to conduct
                  confidential probes.

                  But the doctors say they need to know whether Lewis used
                  cocaine. If he did, the doctors contend, that could have
                  contributed to his 1993 fatal heart attack. And had they
                  known of any previous drug use, say the Brigham and
                  Women's Hospital cardiologists, they would have treated
                  Lewis differently.

                  Lewis, the Celtics' captain, died while shooting baskets
                  in the Celtics practice gym at Brandeis July 27, 1993. He
                  was 27 years old.

                  Donna Harris-Lewis's lawyer denies he used drugs. But even
                  if he had, it wouldn't have mattered, says attorney Robert
                  Harley. The proper treatment for a cocaine-damaged heart
                  is the same as for one damaged by a virus, as the medical
                  examiner found, Harley argues.

                  ``We wish to try the case on the facts of Reggie Lewis's
                  medical treatment,'' said Harley in an interview. ``The
                  defendants want to avoid facing their negligence and to
                  distract attention from the truth with lies and unfounded
                  rumors.''

                  According to sources, the doctors' lawyers are seeking to
                  confirm that Lewis tested positive for cocaine in a 1987
                  urine test. The Northeastern basketball team had been
                  picked for a NCAA tournament in March of 1987 and was
                  scheduled to play Purdue the next Friday.

                  School athletic officials - fearful the NCAA might give
                  random drug tests - decided to administer their own.

                  According to depositions contained in court records,
                  Lewis, the star player, and his friend, Andre LeFleur,
                  delayed taking the test, saying they couldn't urinate. The
                  next day they were tested and according to at least two
                  depositions, they flunked. A day later, they were tested
                  again. This time they passed and were allowed to play.

                  The team's then-doctor, Dr. Job Fuchs, told lawyers
                  involved with the case that Lewis and teammate LaFleur had
                  tested positive for cocaine during the 1987 screening.

                  But several months ago, Fuchs changed his story. He says
                  he has listened to a tape of his 1995 testimony before the
                  Northeastern Commission. On the tape, he says, he reported
                  Lewis did not test positive.

                  Not only do the doctors' lawyers now want the tape, but
                  they also believe the Commission has the actual lab test
                  results.

                  Harley, who says there is no evidence Lewis flunked the
                  test, nevertheless asked a judge to seal all documents in
                  the case - between now and the time the case is scheduled
                  to go to trial, sometime in the spring. He argued that the
                  reams of paperwork concerning Lewis's alleged drug abuse
                  will bias potential jurors.

                  ``Publishing these mere allegations will result in
                  embarrassment, annoyance, oppression and undue burden to
                  Mr. Lewis's name, his estate, his wife and his two infant
                  children,'' wrote Harley in an impassioned plea, turned
                  down by Suffolk Superior Court Judge Charles Grabau two
                  weeks ago.

                  ``What is appropriate here is a legitimate search for the
                  truth, not the path of lurid and unsupported accusation.
                  It is unfortunately a fact that one merely has to point to
                  an athlete, particularly an African-American athlete, and
                  shout `cocaine,' and there are people who will believe the
                  accusation,'' he wrote.

                  ``Other than this accusation, that has been continually
                  shouted to the media, there is no credible evidence that
                  cocaine in any way contributed to Reggie Lewis's death,''
                  he wrote.

                  William J. Daily Jr., Dr. Gilbert Mudge's lawyer, wouldn't
                  comment on the case, saying only: ``We are continuing with
                  our efforts to obtain more information.''