Former Philadelphia Eagles captain Chris Maragos received $43.5 million in a lawsuit against the doctors that left him with a career-ending injury.
A jury of the retired NFL player’s peers found orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Bradley and the Rothman Orthopaedics Institute guilty of medical malpractice, which ultimately caused the two-time Super Bowl champion to retire from the sport prematurely. The Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas ordered Bradley to pay $29.2 million and the Rothman Orthopaedics Institute to pay $14.3 million to Maragos.
“We’re really grateful and thankful for the outcome,” the former Philadelphia Eagles captain said via the Philadelphia Inquirer. “We had the truth on our side, and the jury saw it.”
Maragos played his last game in the NFL in 2017 on account of a knee injury. While he underwent surgery to repair his posterior cruciate ligament the following year, doctors reportedly ignored a meniscus tear which caused him to retire in 2019. According to the retired Eagles attorney, this lawsuit is a milestone case that will help other athletes in the future avoid medical malpractice.
“This case and this jury may have changed the course of history by now forcing these team doctors and trainers to stop worrying about when a player might return to play and start thinking about the next 50 years of a player’s life,” said Dion G. Rassias.
Chris Maragos’ legal team thanks the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas over the verdict
“Rather than prioritize Chris’ health, his medical team hastily advanced his activities – including running on dry land – which ended an amazing NFL career and started him down a path of pain, suffering, immobility, and several future knee replacements,” the attorney also noted. “I want to thank the jury for holding Dr. Bradley and Rothman Orthopaedics responsible for ending Chris’ career.”
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According to Maragos himself, he beehives he would’ve continued playing had his knee injury not been overlooked by his medical team. This is why watching this year’s Super Bow was particularly difficult.
“On Sunday, my team played in the Super Bowl, and I could only watch and wonder whether I could have been out there with them had I received proper medical care,” Maragos explained, per Eagles Today. “While I live in constant pain and will never get back on the field, I hope this decision sends a message to teams’ medical staffs that players are people, not just contracts.”
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