A year before Jordan McNair's death, Maryland president nixed plan to overhaul athletes' health care
David Fahrenthold Retweeted:
Maryland football scandal keeps getting worse
.@romanstubbs and @RickMaese, with the precursor to the end for Wallace D. Loh at Maryland. Athletic dept. wanted to overhaul how health care was delivered to athletes in 2017. The president said ... no.
A year before Jordan McNairs death, Maryland president nixed plan to overhaul athletes health care
By Roman Stubbs, Reporter
Rick Maese, Reporter
August 16 at 8:48 PM
One year before University of Maryland football player Jordan McNair died after collapsing at a team workout, the schools athletic department submitted a proposal that would have fundamentally changed how health care was delivered to athletes, a drastic overhaul aimed at better aligning the school with NCAA recommendations. But the plan was never implemented, its recommendations nixed by Maryland President Wallace D. Loh, according to three people with knowledge of the situation.
Kevin Anderson, Marylands athletic director at the time, sent a memo to Loh dated May 19, 2017, that spelled out the changes the athletic department aimed to make in its management of athlete injuries and illnesses, calling for the school to establish an independent medical care model. The memo, which was obtained by The Washington Post, also called for athletic trainers to report to the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore and to be autonomous from any influence by the schools athletic department.
This relationship also better aligns resources and expertise under one umbrella aimed at improving patient care, staff education and clinical research in the care of athletic conditions and injuries, the memo read.
Loh rejected the proposal last August because he did not want to allow medical personnel decisions to be made by another institution, according to the three people who had direct knowledge of Andersons proposal and Lohs response. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the matter.
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Jesse Dougherty and Emily Giambalvo contributed to this report.
Roman Stubbs is a high school sports enterprise writer for The Washington Post. Previously, he spent four years covering University of Maryland athletics for The Post. He previously contributed to the Associated Press and has written for various publications across the United States and in South Africa. Follow
https://twitter.com/romanstubbs
Rick Maese is a sports features writer for The Washington Post. He has written about the NFL since joining The Post in 2009, including three seasons as beat writer for the Washington Redskins. Follow
https://twitter.com/RickMaese