A Pennsylvania jury has awarded former Penn State football team physician Dr. Scott Lynch $5.25 million in damages in a wrongful termination lawsuit against multiple parties, including his employer, Penn State Medical. The Dauphin County jury deliberated for several hours Wednesday after a seven-day trial that included testimony from Penn State coach James Franklin and former players Saquon Barkley and Trace McSorley.
Pennlive.com reported Wednesday The jury is on Lynch The lawsuit seeks $250,000 in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages arising from a civil lawsuit filed by Lynch in 2019. The plaintiffs are Penn State Health, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and Lynch's former boss, Dr. Kevin Black, who fired Lynch in 2019 from his positions as orthopedic surgeon for the football team and director of sports medicine at Penn State.
Lynch originally filed suit against the current defendants, as well as Franklin College, Penn State University and two former athletic directors, including former athletic director Sandy Barbour. In 2020, a judge dismissed Franklin College, Penn State and the directors from the lawsuit because Lynch filed the suit after Pennsylvania's whistleblower lawsuit deadline.
The case was scheduled to go to trial in March, but the judge dismissed it and set a new trial date for May. Though no longer a plaintiff in the lawsuit, Franklin and the Penn State football program were central subjects of the trial. In a 2019 complaint, Lynch alleged that he was relieved of his duties after reporting that “Franklin attempted to influence and interfere with the medical management of Plaintiff and return-to-play decisions regarding student-athletes.” This claim was repeated in trial testimony.
Lynch, who remains an orthopedic surgeon and director of sports medicine at Penn State Medical Center, said in a 2019 statement that he filed the lawsuit “deeply concerned about the safety of college athletes.”
“Please note that prior to filing this lawsuit, I informally complained to Hershey Medical Center and the Penn State Athletic Department's Integrity Officer about the threats to medical professional autonomy and made recommendations to address those concerns,” Lynch said in a statement. “I believe the recommendations offered, if implemented, would be a major step forward in ensuring medical autonomy and protections for student-athletes.”
“Unfortunately, my proposal was not accepted. As I understand it,
“In retaliation for, and as a result of, my complaint, I was terminated from my position in the Penn State athletic department; however, my concerns were investigated by the Penn State athletic department's Office of Integrity. Unfortunately, the findings remain unreleased and have not been made known to me. I hope that this civil lawsuit will help complete the change that my informal efforts have been unable to achieve.”
According to Penn Live“Dr. Lynch did not relent. He did not let Coach Franklin interfere with his medical autonomy,” Lynch's lawyer, Steven Marino, told jurors in closing arguments. In closing arguments for the defense, attorney Sarah Bouchard said Lynch, who served as team doctor, had worked in Hershey but was not “fully committed” to her job because she was not able to work full time in State College. In 2019, Penn State moved to dismiss the lawsuit, describing Lynch as a “disgruntled” former team doctor.
“Despite the university having demonstrated an unwavering commitment to the welfare and safety of student-athletes for decades, Mr. Barber, [Charmelle] green [former senior associate athletic director] “And Coach Franklin, the plaintiff in this action, is unhappy that he has been removed from his duties as orthopedic surgeon and director of sports medicine for the football team, directly calling into question the reputation that Defendants have built,” Penn State said in its response to Lynch's lawsuit in 2019. “The University Defendants reject Plaintiffs' attempts to denigrate the University's decades-long exemplary commitment to student-athletes and are prepared to defend against Plaintiffs' claims.”
AllPennState is the home for Penn State news, opinions and views on the SI.com network. Publisher Mark Wogenrich has covered Penn State for more than 20 years and has followed three coaching staffs, three Big Ten titles and countless great stories. Follow @MarkWogenrich on Twitter..
