Wheeler Case Strategy Indicated

Attorneys for Northwestern University revealed a critical element of their defense strategy Monday, filing an emergency motion focusing on the ephedrine found in Rashidi Wheeler’s body.

The motion, the first delivered by the attorneys to Cook County (Ill.) Circuit Court Judge Kathy M. Flanagan, requested that all pathology materials (blood, fluid, tissue) taken from Wheeler at Evanston (Ill.) Hospital and the Office of the Medical Examiner of Cook County be preserved for future testing.

“We are asserting the amount of ephedra he consumed has been associated with various adverse effects,” Northwestern spokesman Alan Cubbage said. “That’s why we need to preserve them.”

According to the motion, ephedra alkaloids have been associated with “various adverse events, including heart arrhythmias, seizures, cardiac arrest and sudden death.”

Northwestern’s attorneys, from the Chicago-based firm of Kelley, Drye and Warren, also are asking the medical examiner to retain the samples of supplements Ultimate Punch and Xenadrine that school officials turned over to Evanston police Aug. 3, when Wheeler collapsed during a conditioning drill and was later pronounced dead at Evanston Hospital.

Wheeler, a 22-year-old senior strong safety from Ontario, Calif., was a chronic asthmatic. His death was ruled to have been caused by exercise-induced bronchial asthma. In a police report, Northwestern trainer Tory Aggeler said Wheeler ingested Ultimate Punch and Xenadrine.

The Northwestern attorneys’ motion for a protective order included a six-page, December 2000 report filed in the New England Journal of Medicine titled “Adverse cardiovascular and central nervous system events associated with dietary supplements containing ephedra alkaloids.”

In the review, doctors Christine A. Haller and Neal L. Benowitz analyzed 140 reports of adverse events related to ephedra supplement use submitted to the Food and Drug Administration between June 1, 1997, and March, 31, 1999. Ten events resulted in death and 13 resulted in permanent disability.

The doctors concluded: “These findings indicate the need for a better understanding of individual susceptibility to the adverse effects of such dietary supplements.”

Cubbage said the university’s investigation into Wheeler’s death is ongoing with no definite target date for completion. Northwestern has announced it will permanently retire Wheeler’s No. 30 jersey and its players will wear a patch with his initials, “RAW,” and “30” on it.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, the Wheeler family spokesman, called Monday for the NCAA to aggressively pursue an investigation into Wheeler’s death, which occurred at a controversial practice that might have violated NCAA rules because wind sprints were timed and videotaped.

“Northwestern was caught doing this unauthorized practice, but many others are doing it,” Jackson said. “The university is guarding itself. To assume its investigation will not be guarded is irrational.”