Former Cleveland Browns receiver Joe Jurevicius sues team, doctors, Cleveland Clinic over staph infection
Updated Mar 27, 2019; Posted Jun 26, 2009
By Mary Kay Cabot, cleveland.com
Joshua Gunter, The Plain Dealer
Cleveland Browns receiver Joe Jurevicius watches the game against the Baltimore Ravens from the sidelines Sunday, Nov. 2, 2008 at Cleveland Browns Stadium.
CLEVELAND -- Former Browns receiver Joe Jurevicius, who returned to Cleveland in 2006 to try to help his beloved Browns win a Super Bowl, is suing the team, the Cleveland Clinic and two team physicians over a staph infection that most likely has ended his NFL career.
The suit (pdf), filed Friday in Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas, states that Jurevicius contracted a staph infection in his right knee because the Browns did not sterilize their Berea training facility properly and that the medical personnel, including the Clinic doctors, failed to warn him they weren't taking proper precautions.
Browns attorney Fred Nance told The Plain Dealer in a statement the Browns "deny the allegations and will vigorously defend against them." The Clinic, through spokesperson Erinne Dyer, declined to comment on pending litigation.
Jurevicius, who sat out all last season because of the staph infection, underwent routine arthroscopic surgery on the knee Jan. 7, 2008, and spent about a week-and-a-half rehabilitating at the Browns' facility. On Jan. 21, after experiencing swelling in the knee, severe shaking and chills, he was diagnosed with staph.
John Kuntz, The Plain Dealer
Joe Jurevicius points to the dog pound end of Cleveland Browns Stadium as he signals a first down during the Dec. 16, 2007 game against Buffalo that was played in a snowstorm. The Browns won, 8-0.
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Since then, Jurevicius has undergone six medical procedures on the knee to eradicate the infection and repair the damage. The Browns released him March$?12 despite the fact he offered to take a pay cut to remain with the team. He's currently out of football.
Jurevicius, 34, is the first of six known Browns players diagnosed with staph infections since 2003 to file a lawsuit. One of those, former Browns tight end Kellen Winslow, contracted staph twice, once in 2005 and once last season. Another, Cleveland native and St. Ignatius product LeCharles Bentley, has been out of football since suffering his potentially limb- and life-threatening infection in 2006.
A source close to the situation said two other Browns staffers, not players, contracted staph within the past year.
Nance said in his statement: "The Browns are reviewing the allegations of the complaint. We are very comfortable that the practices and equipment at the Browns training facility are and have been fully compliant with all NFL requirements and sound customary practices for training facilities. In fact, an independent professional review earlier this year concluded that the Browns had taken appropriate steps to prevent MRSA infections at their facilities."
Jurevicius, in a statement issued by his attorney, Shannon Polk, said: "I wanted to play out my career for my hometown team. I hate that it all came down to this, especially over something preventable. But this problem goes beyond me -- it touches every player who trusts what they are told about the care they are being offered. I can't tell you how much I appreciate all the support I've received from the fans over the past few years. It's really helped me through a difficult time in my life."
Polk said: "The Browns held their training facility out as a world-class place for care and treatment and extended it to their players and others like a hospital. Joe could've gone anywhere to rehab after his off-season surgery. He chose to accept care and treatment from the Browns' staff and the Cleveland Clinic physicians because he trusted and believed what he was told about the staph problem. It turns out he shouldn't have."
Browns' staph incidents
Joe Jurevicius' staph infection was one of seven publicized incidents of staph infection the Browns have had since 2003.
• Tight end Kellen Winslow Jr., traded to Tampa Bay this off-season, suffered two. His first case came in 2005 after surgery to repair a torn knee ligament in which he was hospitalized and lost almost 30 pounds. The second was last season.
• Former Browns center LeCharles Bentley remains out of football after suffering a staph infection that he said was life-threatening. The infection was diagnosed shortly after surgery to repair a torn tendon in his left knee in 2006.
• Jurevicius' infection surfaced two weeks after his arthroscopic knee surgery in January 2008.
• Receiver Braylon Edwards missed two games during his rookie year in 2005 with a staph infection that had to be surgically removed from his right arm.
• A recurring staph infection in an elbow all but wiped out former safety Brian Russell's 2006 season.
• In late 2003, former linebacker Ben Taylor wound up in the Cleveland Clinic for five days with a staph infection after reporting to practice with a scratch near his elbow and flu-like symptoms that worsened during the day.
One of the defendants named in the suit, Dr. Anthony Miniaci, stepped aside as Browns head physician May 14 to concentrate on the Cleveland Clinic Sports Health Program. The other, Dr. Richard Figler, replaced Miniaci as the Browns' head physician. Both doctors oversaw Jurevicius' rehabilitation at the Browns' facility. He also underwent his first six procedures at the Clinic before a final clean-up in Alabama.
Another person closely involved with Jurevicius' rehab, trainer Marty Lauzon, resigned on June 5 for family and personal reasons. Lauzon is mentioned prominently in the suit, which says he assured Jurevicius that the five previous cases of staph were not contracted at the Browns' facility.
Furthermore, the lawsuit says Lauzon "explained-away" prior incidents of staph in his discussions with Jurevicius by blaming the infected players for their conduct while away from the Browns' facility. Winslow said he was told that his first staph infection occurred because was rubbing Vitamin E into the wound. During the second one, Winslow was warned in a series of text messages not to reveal he had staph, and former Browns General Manager Phil Savage first tried to pass it off as something Winslow wouldn't want made public. Savage later confirmed the staph.
A source said Jurevicius was told by the Browns he got the infection in a truck stop restroom on his way to Nebraska two weeks after the surgery, and Bentley was told his was from going out in public too soon after his surgery.
In addition to Lauzon, the suit says that Savage and former Browns coach Romeo Crennel assured Jurevicius that the facility was staph-free and that the players got it elsewhere.
On Dec. 18, Jurevicius vowed that he'd play football in 2009, whether here or elsewhere. But the suit stressed that "as a result of the staph infection, Mr. Jurevicius may never be able to play professional football again."
- Background information from previous Plain Dealer stories was used in this report.