Ohio State Pays $41 Million to Settle Claims From Doctor’s Abuse

Ohio State University said Friday that it had reached settlements with many former athletes and other students who filed lawsuits against the university because of sexual assaults committed by Richard H. Strauss during his nearly 20 years as a team doctor for the school’s athletic department, paying $41 million to 162 people who made claims.

The athletes — football players, wrestlers and others — were assaulted after being sent to Strauss for treatment of injuries or for physical examinations before their seasons began, the university said in a 182-page report that was released last year and detailed the abuse, sometimes in graphic terms.

Strauss, who was a professor at the school from 1978 to 1998, died by suicide in 2005.

The university said in a statement announcing the settlement that officials were in mediation with other victims and “committed to a resolution with plaintiffs, including a monetary resolution.”

“The university of decades ago failed these individuals,” Michael V. Drake, Ohio State’s president, said in the statement.

The 2019 report, commissioned by the university, described repeated examples of institutional failure that allowed Strauss to abuse at least 177 students. It said that more than 50 athletic department staff members and others had been aware of the doctor’s misconduct but did not try to stop him.

This is a developing story and will be updated.