GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
It was hard to watch former LSU safety Greg Brooks Jr. speak as he continues to try to come back from what he and his family allege was a misdiagnosis by LSU medical personnel and a botched brain surgery on Sept. 15, 2023, to remove a cancerous tumor at Our Lady of the Lake Hospital in Baton Rouge.
Brooks, 23, has had to re-learn how to walk, speak, eat and write after Dr. Brandon Gaynor’s procedure that made him cancer free, but caused “permanent disability,” according to a 13-page lawsuit filed by Brooks on Aug. 2, 2024, in East Baton Rouge Parish’s 19th Judicial District Court.
Named in the lawsuit in addition to Gaynor is Our Lady of the Lake Hospital, LSU football head athletic trainer Owen Stanley, LSU football team doctors Stephen Etheridge, Vincent Shaw and Tony Johnson II, LSU football coach Brian Kelly and former LSU assistant football coaches Matt House and Kerry Cooks.
TIGER RAG: FORMER LSU SAFETY GREG BROOKS JR. LAWSUIT IS ‘EXCRUCIATINGLY DETAILED’
The lawsuit questions the neurological surgery qualifications of Gaynor and the LSU doctors who mistakenly diagnosed Brooks’ condition as Vertigo and were slow to get him an MRI. The suit was first reported on in October of last year by Yahoo and then by various local media outlets, such as Tiger Rag, and other national media outlets.
Former LSU safety Greg Brooks Jr. (right) and his father Greg Brooks Sr. appeared on ABC’s “Good Morning America” news show on Monday. (Tiger Rag Photo).
On Monday, Brooks and his father, Greg Brooks Sr., appeared on ABC’s “Good Morning America” in an emotional, heart-wrenching interview with studio host and Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive end Michael Strahan. His daughter Isabella had a similar, but much more successful surgery after Brooks, and is also interviewed.
This is the link to The Good Morning America video of Greg Brooks Jr.
The GMA feature opens with Brooks speaking normally in an interview early in his first season at LSU in 2022 before he began complaining of headaches, nausea and dizziness in practice in August of 2023. After the Vertigo misdiagnoses, Brooks played in LSU’s first two games in the 2023 season on Sept. 3 against Florida State and against Grambling on Sept. 9 – five days before an MRI showed the brain tumor.
Then Brooks is shown talking present day.
“Now, people cannot understand me,” he says through very slow and slurred speech. ABC inserted the text of what Brooks said for clarity.
Strahan asks the elder Brooks, a New Orleans native who played at Michigan and Southern Mississippi before an NFL career with the Cincinnati Bengals from 2004-06, when he first heard from anyone from LSU other than his son about his condition. And there was much that could have been communicated.
-On Aug. 5, 2023, Brooks passed out during an LSU football practice and “began to vomit minutes later in front of his coaches and athletic trainers,” the lawsuit states. He complained of dizziness, a headache and nausea, which are all neurological symptoms. Stanley, the trainer, spoke with Dr. Etheredge and gave Brooks medication for nausea and cleared him to return to practice without seeing a doctor, the lawsuit says.
-Dr. Shaw saw Brooks briefly after practice that day, but “failed to do any type of detailed examination,” the lawsuit states. Brooks kept practicing and complaining of the above symptoms for several more days without seeing a doctor through Aug. 11. Then Owen diagnosed Brooks with dizzy-related Vertigo, but he did that without Brooks seeing a team doctor, the lawsuit says.
-“Rather than refer Greg to a competent neurologist to evaluate him, Stanley instead evaluated Greg himself with an app on his phone and again cleared him to practice despite clearly lacking the appropriate medical training and education to make such decisions,” the lawsuit states.
-Brooks kept complaining of dizziness, nausea and headaches on a daily basis, but continued to be cleared to practice and play in the first two games of the season, the suit says. Brooks said in media interviews at the time that he had Vertigo.
-Finally as he continued to complain about his condition, LSU made a Sept. 13 appointment for Brooks with a neurologist, who ordered an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) test on Sept. 14. That MRI revealed Brooks had a brain tumor, and LSU immediately scheduled surgery on Sept. 15.
FATHER OF GREG BROOKS JR. SAID LSU DIDN’T CONTACT HIM UNTIL DAY BEFORE SURGERY
“The one call I received was, ‘I need you to get here. Your son is having emergency surgery tomorrow morning,'” Brooks’ dad said on GMA.
Brooks and his son each said they did not seek a second opinion during the five-week period that summer of 2023 when Brooks was diagnosed with Vertigo and never got better.
Strahan asked the younger Brooks why he is speaking out now.
“I just want young athletes in the same spot I was to, if something is hurting, tell them,” he said. “And if they don’t do anything about it, go get your second opinion. Because, if I would have known that, I wouldn’t be the way I am right now.”
Brooks continues to go through daily speech and occupational therapy and has improved drastically from immediately after the surgery. Through chemotherapy and radiation treatments, Brooks is now cancer free, the GMA story said, but his “recovery is far from over,” it added.
“I just want to be normal,” he said.
“The disease is not the issue,” Brooks’ dad said. “This is the aftermath of injury from the surgery. He’s at LSU – one of the best colleges in the United States. Why would I have ever thought that his best interests wouldn’t be at heart?”
During the surgery, Brooks “suffered multiple strokes due to acts of malpractice, which are being addressed in a medical review panel proceeding,” the lawsuit states. “Greg sustained severe and permanent injuries during the surgery and was transferred to Memphis for (hospital) care in October of 2023.”
Brooks’ attorney, Jeffrey S. Rosenblum of the Rosenblum & Reisman firm in Memphis, Tennessee, spoke to Tiger Rag in October.
“The type of surgery Greg had is a very complicated and meticulous surgery with virtually no margin for error because of the various nerves involved,” he said. “The way the surgery was done may have created permanent brain damage. I stand by every allegation that is made in the lawsuit.”
Rosenblum did not return a call for further comment on Monday.
“This young man was going to get drafted and play in the NFL,” Rosenblum said in October. “It’s tragic. He was walking and talking normally the day before the emergency surgery. He did not need to have emergency surgery. There was time to locate a more qualified surgeon.”
LSU, OUR LADY OF THE LAKE NOT COMMENTING
LSU’s legal representation is not responding to requests for comment, nor is LSU.
“Still no additional comment from us beyond the statement we released in October,” LSU athletic department spokesman Zach Greenwell told Tiger Rag Monday.
“While LSU cannot comment on ongoing litigation, Greg Brooks Jr. remains in our thoughts and prayers as he continues to work through the rehabilitation process,” Greenwell told Tiger Rag in October. “Since the beginning of our agreement with Our Lady of the Lake, they have provided exceptional medical care for our student-athletes in all our sports.”
Our Lady of the Lake is also referring to its October comment, which was:
“First and foremost, our prayers remain with Greg for his continued healing and recovery. Due to patient privacy laws and pending litigation, we can’t comment on specific individuals or situations. The neurosurgical team at Our Lady of the Lake is among the most experienced in Louisiana, and they give our patients the best opportunity for a positive outcome in any circumstance. Providing excellent healthcare to those we serve is our top priority.”
Meanwhile, LSU’s football media guide and website bio of Brooks has still not been corrected as to where the surgery took place. It says Brooks was “transported to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital in September, where he underwent surgery to remove a tumor and began treatment.”
The surgery was at Our Lady of The Lake, Later, he had further treatment at St. Jude’s in Memphis.
LSU did honor Brooks during the 2023 season after the surgery as he was named a permanent team captain. And the Tigers wore his No. 3 as decals on their helmets from the Mississippi State game on Sept. 16 – the first game Brooks missed – through the end of the season and painted his No. 3 on the Tiger Stadium field.
Strahan asked Brooks and his father if they have heard personally from anyone at LSU since the surgery.
Brooks shook his head no. His father pointed out that he had not heard from Brian Kelly.
“My son almost lost his life, coach,” the elder Brooks said. “Where were you? Forget about football. Pick up the phone and say you love the kid, man.”
Kelly was asked about the lawsuit last October and gave a more human statement than either LSU or Our Lady of the Lake.
“It’s well known, and we’ve talked about the love that we have, our entire team, for Greg Brooks,” Kelly said on Oct. 14. “A leader, beloved by his teammates, and we’ll continue to have that (love). Unfortunately, lawsuits come out in our culture and our society every day. And it is what it is, but it doesn’t change the way we feel about Greg. And our support is going to be there. We hope and pray for only the best for him. But when it comes to lawsuits, our kids, players, coaches, we just really focus on Greg and hope and pray for Greg. He’s the guy that we focus on, and we stay away from anything that has legal ramifications.”
Brooks was indeed likely an NFL draft choice. He started 31 games at Arkansas from 2019-21 and had four interceptions. He started 13 games at LSU in 2022 and had two interceptions and a sack.
“I want him to be able to live a productive life whatever it may be,” his father said.
“Somebody at least knows what I went through,” Greg Brooks Jr. said as he met Strahan’s obviously healthy and clear speaking daughter Isabella. “We use her for advice and what to do next.”
Strahan asked Brooks how he felt immediately after he woke up from the surgery.
“I was in disbelief,” he said.
“Felt like it was a dream?” Strahan asked.
“Yeah,” Brooks said. “Like a nightmare that I couldn’t wake up from.”
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