Former Seahawks Player Shares Comp Case Details Amid Fight Over NFL Painkiller Abuse

Monday, April 10, 2017 | 0

Former Seattle Seahawks offensive tackle Jerry Wunsch has shared details of his workers' compensation claim against the National Football League, which is embroiled in a legal fight over its allegedly excessive dispensation of pain medications, the Seattle Times reported.

Jerry Wunsch
(YouTube image)

Wunsch's NFL medical records show that he received injections of Toradol, a powerful nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) before 28 of his 34 games with the Seahawks. The records also indicate he was given the prescription painkillers Bextra, Vioxx, Hyalgan, Indocin and Vicodin, along with the sleep aid Ambien and, as the Times put it, "weekly fistfuls" of Advil and Tylenol.

He said he now suffers from severe pain and memory problems he attributes to blows he sustained while numbed by painkillers. 

A Washington state industrial appeals judge last month ruled Wunsch eligible for workers' compensation benefits for dementia and pain from injuries to his knees, back, neck, elbows and ankles. 

The NFL is engaged in a larger fight over its alleged use of NSAIDs and prescription painkillers to numb players to in-game pain. Wunsch, other players and at least one NFL physician have described players lining up for "the T-train" — a pre-game Toradol shot in the buttocks that alleviates previous aches and desensitizes players to new pain. 

"It's the weirdest line. It's like being in a cafeteria line. You just bend over, get a shot. You feel like a whole new person when you get out there," former Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Errict Rhett told SB Nation last year.

Some teams and doctors say Toradol use has declined in the league since 2012, but filings in a federal lawsuit against the NFL show that as of a 2014 survey completed by 27 of 32 teams, an average of half a team's players were still taking Toradol on game days.

Pittsburgh Steelers physician Anthony Yates testified in the suit that players were still lining up for the "T-train" last season.

Last year, a California judge allowed a federal lawsuit filed by more than 1,500 players alleging abuse of painkillers within the NFL to proceed. The lawsuit is underway in the U.S. District Court of California, with plaintiffs' lawyers asking to certify the suit as a class action.

An amended complaint was filed earlier this year. The NFL said in a response to the amended complaint that the suit should be dismissed.

View the Seattle Times' story on Wunsch's workers' compensation claim and the lawsuit against the NFL here.