Bechler’s family may sue drug companies
Michael O'Keeffe
New York Daily News (KRT)
As grief envelops it, Steve Bech
ler’s family is struggling to cope with
the questions surrounding his death
and the debate it has sparked: Did
the Medford-native Orioles pitcher
die because he was taking an
ephedra-laced weight-loss supple
ment called Xenadrine RFA-1? Did
the team push him too far? Will the
players and owners agree to regulate
or even ban ephedra? Will the gov
ernment do something?
Add another question to the list:
Will his family sue?
According to Bechler’s agent Sam
Levinson, Bechler’s wife Kiley has
hired a lawyer to look after their legal
interests and to consider possible liti
gation. Friends say the family’s main
goal is to get ephedra off the shelves.
If the family does proceed with le
gal action, attorneys familiar with lit
igation against ephedra manufactur
ers say it may consider action
against the following:
—CYTODYNE TECHNOLO
GIES: The Manasquan, N.J.-based
company manufactures Xenadrine
RFA-1, the weight-loss aid Broward
County (Fla.) medical examiner
Joshua Perper linked to Bechler’s
spring-training death.
Doctors and researchers say prod
ucts like Xenadrine that combine
ephedra, caffeine and other ingredi
ents, can be especially dangerous
when used during exercise. It affects
the body’s ability to cool itself and
pumps up the heart when it is al
ready racing from exercise. The
stimulant also masks fatigue.
“They are selling a defective prod
uct,” says Alaska attorney Richard
Vollertsen, who has represented sev
eral clients who have sued ephedra
manufacturers. “It’s known to cause
serious health problems — heart at
tacks, strokes and seizures.”
A medical examiner said high
blood pressure and liver abnormali
ties contributed to Bechler’s death,
and Xenadrine RFA-l’s label in
cludes a warning urging consumers
to consult their doctor before using
the product if they have heart prob
lems and other health disorders.
But Vollertsen argues that con
sumers who buy a legal, over-the
counter product expect it to be safe.
“A warning does not fix the prob
lem,” he said.
— MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL:
The NFL, NCAA and International
Olympic Committee have all banned
ephedra, but baseball has no policy
on the herbal stimulant.
“I’m very critical of Major League
Baseball for not addressing this prob
lem,” says California attorney John
Tiedt, who has been involved in nu
merous cases against ephedra com
panies. Tiedt says he believes the re
sult of the inaction “is the death of a
23-year-old prospect. Baseball
should have known that just because
it is legal doesn’t mean it is safe.”
Perhaps the main reason baseball
does not have an ephedra policy is
MLB’s long adversarial relationship
with its union. The NFL banned
ephedra soon after the heatstroke
death of Minnesota Vikings tackle Ko
rey Stringer in part because the league
and its players association enjoy an
amicable working relationship. Base
ball’s union is far more independent,
and players’ association officials have
expressed reservations about banning
an over-the-counter product.
Stringer’s widow Kelci has filed a
$100 million lawsuit against the
Vikings, arguing the team pushed
her husband too hard and then
failed to provide him with proper
medical care. She says her husband
did not use ephedra or other supple
ments, and ephedra was not found in
his system by a medical examiner,
although team officials said ephedra
bottles were found in his locker.
— BALTIMORE ORIOLES: Bech
ler's family could follow the lead set
by the family of Northwestern Uni
versity football Rashidi Wheeler,
who died in 2001 during a grueling
preseason drill. In a wrongful death
lawsuit filed against the school,
Wheeler's family is arguing that in
adequate medical care, not the
ephedra an autopsy revealed was in
Wheeler's system, was the cause of
death. Northwestern has in turn
sued the makers of the ephedra sup
plement found in Wheeler's system.
"What can be learned from this
terrible tragedy is that athletes,
coaches, trainers, and the public
need to be aware of the dangers of
excessive exercise in heat and hu
midity," Siegner says.
©2003, New York Daily News.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune
Information Services.
Sports briefs
Holliday leads
Ducks in Idaho
University redshirt senior Becky
Holliday posted an NCAA automat
ic qualifying mark and nearly a
foot season best Friday to break
the school pole vault record by a
half-inch in the opening day of the
Mountain Pacific Championships
at the Nampa Sports Center in
Nampa, Idaho.
A Sparks, Nev., native, Holliday
opened the afternoon at a mark
near her previous season best of 13
2 1/4 and, after a third-attempt
clearance, had less trouble with
subsequent heights and eventually
finished second overall with a mark
of 14-1 3/4 behind NCAA record
holder Amy Linnen of Arizona.
“Becky rolled the dice by starting
at a height a fraction higher than she
had cleared all year,” women’s head
coach Tom Heinonen said. “But it
paid off. After she made that, she got
on a roll and jumped great at every
height after that.”
In Saturday’s action, seniors
Adam Kriz, Foluso Akinradewo
and Janette Davis led the Ducks.
Kriz improved his chances for
an NCAA Championships invite
with a 1 foot, 2 3/4-inch personal
best in the weight throw (second,
67-7), and trailed only UCLA’s Dan
Ames (first, 67-9 1/2). Kriz’s mark
may rank him top 10 nationally
next week on the national qualify
ing list since last week’s eighth
place mark was 67-2 1/4. Normal
ly, a minimum of 15 throwers are
invited to the collegiate finale,
scheduled for March 14-15 in
Fayetteville, Ark., with only two
more weekends to qualify.
A Toledo, Ore., native, Kriz made
his NCAA Championships outdoor
debut in 2002 in the hammer throw
after earning an invite based on his
winning mark and personal best
from last year’s Pac-10 finale.
—from staff and wire reports
Men's
continued from page 7
four points and three fouls in 12
minutes in the first half but only got
off the bench in the second half dur
ing his exchange with Cooper.
“I certainly thought that took
away from the game,” Kent said.
“(Joseph) needed a cooling off pe
riod. He needed to calm down
a little.”
Joseph met with the media briefly
after the game but was pulled away
by a member of the Oregon media
services office before he could ex
plain his side of the story.
“It’s something he’s going to have
to work through, and we’re going to
have to work through with him,”
Kent said. “We’ll evaluate the situa
tion and go from there.”
As Joseph melted on the bench,
Oregon was flattened on the floor.
Without Joseph, Oregon’s third
leading scorer, Kent relied on heavy
second-half minutes from Luke Rid
nour (20 minutes), Luke Jackson
(19), Ian Crosswhite (17) and
James Davis (15) — and it showed.
“Some of those mistakes we
made were fatigue mistakes down
the stretch,” Kent said.
Washington’s Jeffrey Day threw
down a thunderous rebound dunk
with 6:30 left and freshman Bran
don Roy did the same less than a
minute later to energize the crowd
and spark a decisive 9-0 run for the
Huskies (9-15,4-11).
Oregon had battled back from a
14-point first-half deficit to get
back in the game. Crosswhite hit
consecutive 3-pointers to give Ore
gon a 43-42 lead with 13 minutes
to play. A minute later, Jackson
tipped in his own miss to put the
Ducks ahead 45-44, but that would
be their last lead.
“We were battling through a lot of
adversity,” Kent said. “We were
good at responding, and even taking
control of the game, at one point in
the second half.”
Ridnour paced Oregon with 20
points and six assists — but had
eight of Oregon’s 15 turnovers.
Davis scored 15 points for the
Ducks, and Crosswhite added 14.
Jackson finished with just eight
points on 3-of-13 shooting and
nine rebounds.
“There’s no excuse,” Davis said.
“On the road, it’s just tough to win
sometimes.”
Or, in Oregon’s case, it’s always
tough to win at Washington. The
Ducks have now lost two straight
in Seattle and four of their last
six here.
Curtis Allen led the Huskies
with 17 points. Nate Robinson,
Washington’s freshman guard,
who’s generously listed at 5-foot-9
inches, finished with 15 points but
was most impressive with his de
fense of Ridnour.
Kent called the Huskies “a really
aggressive basketball team,” partic
ularly on defense, where the Dawgs
hounded the Ducks.
“They played tough defense,”
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Luke Ridnour had eight turnovers in Oregon's loss at Washington. The Ducks had 15 total turnovers in the loss.
Kidnour said. We didn t get some
calls we could of got, but you can’t
use that as an excuse.”
“Sometimes the game goes to the
aggressor,” Kent said.
Ridnour missed a free throw with
1:31 left in the game, snapping a
record-setting streak of 62 consecu
tive free throws made.
“So what?” Ridnour said when
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Contact the sports reporter
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