MSU Failures Enabled Nassar's Sex Abuse: Lawmakers

LANSING, MI – Larry Nassar spent decades developing his ability to abuse young women and girls who came to him seeking medical attention for their sports-related injuries, according to a new report which was compiled by Michigan legislators tasked with investigating how Michigan State University handled complaints from the victims.

As a Michigan State University sports medicine doctor, Nassar identified and exploited loopholes in policies and procedures that governed his professional conduct and relationships with his patients, the report notes.

Nassar was convicted earlier this year in two separate sexual abuse cases and has been sentenced to up to 140 years in prison for sexually abusing young women and girls. He also was convicted in December on child pornography charges and currently is in federal prison on that conviction. He most likely will die in prison.

Among the findings in the lawmakers' report:

• Medical records were never kept for many of Nassar’s "treatments" and numerous records that were kept lacked any reference to the sensitive nature of the treatments, including touching the women and girls inside their vaginas. The lawmakers note that they are not aware of any specific MSU policy then in place which prohibited such conduct.
• MSU did not have an adequate informed consent policy in place for much of the period examined, which Nassar methodically exploited.
• MSU’s policies did not require a chaperone or other person to be present in the exam room during sensitive examinations or treatments of minors for much of the period examined, which Nassar took full advantage of on multiple occasions.

The report was detailed in a letter sent Thursday to Tom Leonard, the speaker of the Michigan House, from state lawmakers Klint Kesto and Stephanie Chang, the chair and vice chair of the Law and Justice Committee, and Kim LaSata and Jon Hoadley, the chair and vice chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Higher Education.

Dating back to 2014, at least 243 survivors, mostly underage girls at the time, reported to MSU Police that Nassar sexually assaulted them during routine medical examinations. In their investigation, the lawmakers reviewed thousands of pages of documents from Michigan State. The lawmakers also met with numerous survivors of Nassar's abuse.

"The courage shown by the survivors in telling what happened to them and advocating for change has been inspirational, and their input has been instrumental in this process," the lawmakers wrote in their report.

University officials should have taken note that Nassar neither solicited or received payments from patients or their insurers for his treatments, the lawmakers noted in their report. Many of the treatments took place at his home or at a private gymnastics studio.

The university also failed to properly follow-up on a Title IX complaint filed by gymnast Amanda Thomashow in 2014, that may have prevented abuse of other girls and women. In that case, the university failed to use "truly independent" experts to review case.

"Astonishingly, one of the witnesses was hand-picked by Nassar himself, while two others were suggested by then-Dean William Strampel," the lawmakers wrote. And, the experts who reviewed the incident were "Nassar’s longtime colleagues and associates who knew him on a personal level."

Strampel in March was arrested and charged with a felony charge of misconduct in office, a misdemeanor of criminal sexual conduct in the fourth degree and two misdemeanor counts of willful neglect of duty. Among the allegations against Strampel, investigators say he inappropriately touched a female student and he stored nude photos of female students on his work computer.

The lawmakers conclude that changes in state laws and policies should occur.

"Though not all of us necessarily agree with each and every proposal, we all agree that a broad review of potential solutions is necessary to protect our children from predators like Larry Nassar and fix the
problems revealed by his horrific crimes," wrote the bi-partisan panel.

Among the recommendations for policy covering the use of vaginal treatments of minors, the lawmakers recommended:

• Require the Board of Osteopathic Medicine and Board of Medicine to issue publicly available guidance materials to medical practitioners on intravaginal medical treatments, including internal pelvic floor treatments;
• Prohibit, with certain exceptions (e.g., OB/GYN care and emergencies), the performance of a medical treatment involving vaginal or anal penetration on a minor unless the treatment is within the professional’s scope of practice, another healthcare professional is in the room during treatment, and informed written consent on a standardized form is obtained;
• Require the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs to create a standardized consent form for vaginal and anal penetrative treatments on minors that includes, in part, statements regarding the use of gloves and the presence of another healthcare professional during these treatments;
• Require any medical treatment consisting of vaginal or anal penetration to be referenced on the patient’s medical record;
• Require the retention of a patient’s medical record referencing a vaginal or anal penetration treatment for 15 years, as opposed to the current seven-year statutory retention period.

Other recommendations by the panel include criminalizing the act of using a person's authority over another from compelling the subordinate from not reporting the criminal sexual conduct, expanding the state's ati-child violence OK2Say program to include sexual misconduct, and prohibit schools from expelling or suspending students from reporting sexual abuse.

Photo by Getty Image