The Larry Nassar Case: What Happened and How the Fallout Is Spreading (Published 2018) (2024)

“There is now nowhere left for you to hide, Larry.” Hundreds of women say Larry Nassar sexually abused them. It’s one of the worst sexual abuse scandals in the history of sports. And it went on for more than two decades. How did he get away with it? “My real interest, of course, with dance and gymnastics is my role with U.S.A. Gymnastics.” Nassar had celebrity-like status in the elite gymnastics and sports medicine world. U.S.A. Gymnastics gave him countless awards. He was inducted into Michigan State University’s hall of fame and governors appointed him to state licensing boards. He even secured a patent for an ankle brace he invented. Nassar’s patients felt honored to be treated by the best of the best. Nassar typically carried out his abuse under the guise of a medical treatment. He hijacked a rare pelvic therapy, that involves vagin*l penetration, and used it to treat all sorts of ailments. He ignored protocol, such as using a glove, asking consent or having a medical chaperone present. “And when I was 14 years old, I tore my hamstring in my right leg. This was when he started performing the procedure that we are all now familiar with.” “The next visit was for my shoulder, which I then found out my hips were out of alignment, which then made my spine and my pelvic bone out of alignment as well. And this is when Larry decided that it was medically acceptable to violate a 16-year-old girl.” When confronted by parents, coaches, and eventually investigators, Nassar said patients may have misunderstood his therapy. Medical colleagues deferred to his expertise After a 2014 investigation cleared his name, Nassar was just reminded to follow procedures. In the training camps of elite gymnastics, where coaches are notoriously hard on athletes, Nassar manipulated girls into believing he was a trusted friend, advocate and even their protector. “You have to protect your athletes. You have to let them know that we care. You have to, not let them know, but let them feel it. Let them understand it. Let them breathe it.” ”He put my picture up on his wall with Olympians. I thought I mattered to Larry.” “You had me so wrapped around your finger, and I still trusted you so much. Even when I was a sophom*ore in college, and you were the only person I called to help me make the decision to end my gymnastics career due to my injuries. Nassar won over family members by offering a free treatment, a quick diagnosis, or often the pretense of transparency. “At the end of the appointment in your basem*nt, I remember asking, ‘Do I owe you anything?’ Now it seems kind of sick. You got what you wanted.” He frequently molested young girls with parents in the room, using a draped towel or practiced positioning to conceal where his fingers were massaging. “What kind of a person has the audacity to sexually assault a child in front of their mother?” It’s still unclear who knew what when, but for decades Nassar’s employers focused on their reputations and failed to safeguard the young women in their care. When U.S.A. Gymnastics got a complaint about Nassar in 2016, the organization paid the gymnast $1.25 million to stop her from speaking about the abuse. Complaints about Nassar’s treatments reached officials at Michigan State University as early as 1997, The Detroit News has reported. That’s 20 years before the prized doctor was terminated. MSU has said that no one at the University believed that Nassar committed sexual abuse prior to the newspaper reports in the summer of 2016. Nassar’s victims say that if the university had investigated the first complaint, scores of young girls may have escaped the doctor’s abuse. “Larry Nassar did not arise in isolation. Rather we saw the worst sexual assault scandal in history unfold because a predator was left in power for decades. Despite warning signs, despite red flags, despite direct reports of assault.”