| | Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA -- The extent of a feud between Philadelphia
general manager Bobby Clarke and Carl Lindros, the father and agent
of Flyers center Eric Lindros, is revealed through a series of
letters between the father and team officials.
Obtained by The Philadelphia Inquirer, the letters were written
after Lindros suffered a collapsed lung on April 1, 1999, in
Nashville, which was diagnosed the following day. The letters show
that Lindros and his family had little to no confidence in the
Flyers' medical staff after the incident.
During a game against the Predators, Lindros bruised his rib and
complained of chest pain. When teammate Keith Jones awoke early in
the morning, Lindros lay pale and gasping in a bathtub of warm
water in their Nashville hotel room.
Jones called team trainer John Worley, but another three hours
elapsed before Lindros was admitted to a hospital at 9:44 a.m.
"Eric's critical condition was obvious," Carl Lindros later
wrote team chairman Ed Snider, according to the newspaper. "He was
in shock, sweating, skin color as white as a sheet, and the resting
pulse was almost twice its normal rate."
Doctors immediately administered oxygen and conducted surgery on
the spot. The lack of treatment rendered by Worley in those three
hours caused the already heated relationship between Carl Lindros
and the Flyers to worsen. Lindros' parents accused Clarke of
wanting to "kill" their son.
"All the controversies, Eric brings them on himself," Clarke
said.
Neither Eric Lindros nor his father would comment to the
newspaper.
However, all sides agree that the plan Worley originally
discussed with the team's orthopedic specialist that morning --
putting Lindros on a commercial flight back to Philadelphia where
he would undergo examination -- would have been fatal.
"Believe me, once the situation became clear, the last thing I
would want to do is put someone with a punctured lung in a
pressurized compartment," Worley said in October.
The family was convinced that Clarke had ordered Worley to fly
Lindros back to Philadelphia for further tests as his teammates
flew to Boston for a game without knowing the severity of his
injury.
"We have been advised that had Eric attempted to fly back to
Philadelphia as directed by Mr. Worley and Mr. Clarke, Eric would
likely have died during or as a result of the flight," Carl
Lindros wrote in a letter to Snider on April 28, 1999.
After receiving the letter, Snider ordered an internal
investigation by team counsel Phil Weinberg. Lindros was not
interviewed, but Worley, Jones and other players were, without
their agents or lawyers present.
Snider replied to Carl Lindros' letter on May 13, saying that
the Flyers had acted properly. Worley, according to the letter, had
no reason to suspect anything more than a bruised rib.
"Carl, you and I are not medical experts, and we cannot and
should not debate the appropriateness of Eric's care," Snider
wrote. "What is most important is that Eric did receive proper
medical treatment and is well on his way to recovery without
further consequences." | |
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