The family of Derek Boogaard, who played in the National Hockey League for six seasons, died of an accidental drug overdose in May of 2011, is going after the NHL with a wrongful death lawsuit, according to reports. Boogaard was 28 years old at the time he died, and was a member of the New York Rangers. He had spent the five previous years on the Minnesota Wild.
Boogaard's family is charging the NHL with responsibility for the brain damage Boogaard suffered in his six NHL seasons as an "enforcer," or someone primarily used to engage in fights and make hard contact with other players.
Boogaard was a massive man, standing six feet seven inches and weighing 235 lbs. according to Hockey-reference.com. Boogaard's post-mortem examination revealed chronic trauma encephalopathy (CTE), a condition often found among football players. CTE is a progressive condition brought on by repeated head trauma, something Boogaard clearly endured during his career.
Boogaard's mother Joanne said in a statement, "It is my hope that this suit will bring more awareness to what really happened to our son, to see the so very wrong handling of drugs that he was given by the people that we entrusted our son to. He was there protecting his teammates at all costs, but who was there to protect him?"
According to the lawsuit, Boogaard was involved in 66 on-ice fights, and was given 1,021 pills by the NHL. The lawsuit alleges that Boogaard was given 150 oxycodone pills in a two-week span; after that Boogaard was taking up to ten of them per day.
The Boogaard family's attorney, William T. Gibbs, said, "To deal with the pain, he turned to the team doctors who dispensed pain pills like candy. Then, once he became addicted to these narcotics, the NHL promised his family that it would take care of him. It failed. He died. Today, his family seeks justice for the NHL's egregious failures."
An NHL spokesman declined to comment on the matter.
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