Boogaard Family Sues NHL For Son's Death
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO/AP) -- Former Minnesota Wild player Derek Boogard's family has filed a lawsuit against the NHL. It was filed late Friday in court in Chicago, according to his Chicago-based attorney.
In the lawsuit, the family says the NHL is responsible for the brain damage that Boogaard sustained during six seasons as an enforcer in the league, and for his addiction to prescription painkillers.
According to the lawsuit, in the 2008 season alone, Boogaard received more than a thousand pills from Minnesota Wild doctors, trainers and staff. His addiction was so strong, the lawsuit says he'd often take 10 pain killers or sleeping pills a day.
The lawsuit further alleges that the NHL failed to monitor his prescriptions and failed to have proper procedures in sharing medical records across the NHL doctors, dentists and trainers.
Boogaard was found dead of an accidental overdose of pain medication and alcohol on May 13, 2011. He was 28.
Boogard was posthumously diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain ailment that is caused by repeated blows to the head.
The Minnesota Wild has no comment on the lawsuit, the team's spokesman Ryan Stanzel said Sunday night.
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