Doctor in Wheeler Case Admits He Burned Records of a Physical

A Northwestern University doctor acknowledged burning records of a physical he gave Rashidi Wheeler three weeks before the football player died during a 2001 training drill.

Dr. Mark Gardner testified for nearly 6 1/2 hours Thursday in a lawsuit that Wheeler’s parents filed against the university. Only lawyers for Wheeler’s family were able to question Gardner before the deposition ended for the day. He is expected to continue questioning at a later date.

His attorney, Richard Donohue, said the doctor destroyed the records days after Wheeler’s death and then checked himself into a hospital.

“He liked Rashidi, and it came out in the deposition that he liked Rashidi a lot,” Donohue said Friday. “He was really distraught when this kid died.”

Wheeler, a La Verne Damien High graduate, collapsed and died on Aug. 3, 2001, after participating in a conditioning drill. His parents sued Northwestern, claiming officials did not give their son, an asthmatic, proper medical treatment. Northwestern argues ephedra-containing supplements Wheeler was taking caused an irregular heartbeat that led to his death.

The university added manufacturers and sellers of the supplements to the lawsuit as third-party defendants.

The doctor gave Wheeler a routine physical on July 12, 2001. According to the lawyers present at the deposition, Gardner said Wheeler wrote on a questionnaire that he was taking an “energy shake.”

Gardner said he told Wheeler to stop taking the shake and to give the canister to the team’s trainer.

Wheeler also indicated his asthma was under control, the doctor said.