IndyStar: Brian Kelly being sued for concealing spinal scan results from player

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A former Notre Dame football player is suing the university for negligence, alleging that results of a spinal scan were concealed from him and that he should not have been allowed to continue playing.

Instead, former linebacker Douglas Randolph alleges, he played the entire 2015 season. Afterward, his complaint said, Randolph was diagnosed with spinal stenosis and has been told he has potentially permanent nerve damage in his neck.

The complaint, filed this month in St. Joseph Circuit Court, names coach Brian Kelly among the defendants. It does not specify an amount being sought for damages.

University officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Randolph alleges that he was hit during a practice drill in September 2015 and “suffered numbness in his upper extremities.” The lawsuit says he informed trainer Rob Hunt of his symptoms and that Hunt dismissed the complaint. Hunt, the lawsuit said, pulled Randolph out of practice for two minutes before returning him to full participation.

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The lawsuit states that Randolph’s symptoms continued after every impact he experienced on the field.

He had an MRI, and Hunt and a team doctor told Randolph it was safe for him to continue playing, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit says neither the imaging nor the results of the scan were given to Randolph. Randolph says his symptoms worsened during the season.

"If he had been told the truth about the results of this MRI scan, his football career would have ended on that date and all subsequent injuries and permanent damage he has endured would have never occurred,” the lawsuit says.

At one point, Randolph said he was in so much distress that a team doctor prescribed an anti-inflammatory steroid for “muscle strain” in his neck. But he said he experienced side effects such as “irritability, difficulty focusing, and difficulty sleeping, as well as extreme bouts of aggressive behavior, which ultimately forced him to discontinue the use of the painkiller” in October 2015.

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