Q&A With Don Van Natta Jr., New York Times Investigative Correspondent
After Tuesday's New York Times front page story linking Dr. Anthony Galea to Tiger Woods, I requested an e-interview with Pulitzer prize-winning investigative correspondent Don Van Natta Jr., one of the key contributors to the story and an occasional writer for Golf Digest.
The Times story has been criticized by Woods' agent Mark Steinberg and on assorted sites, including this odd and dismissive take at Deadspin. As recently as yesterday, Steinberg's agency, IMG, continued to deny any link to Dr. Galea, though they appeared to be isolating their man in case evidence contradicts Steinberg's statements.
Gerald Posner writes:
But this afternoon, I had a surprisingly blunt conversation with Jim Gallagher, the normally diplomatic chief of IMG’s press relations, who told The Daily Beast: “Mark Steinberg has assured us that he has never met Dr. Galea or referred him to any of our clients, including Tiger Woods.”
I asked Van Natta about the strong denial by Steinberg, along with questions about elements to Dr. Galea's defense.
GS: Can you speak to the genesis of this story and when the New York Times began speaking to Dr. Galea?
DVN: We had received a tip that one of Tiger Woods’ doctors was under criminal investigation in the U.S. for dispensing performance-enhancing drugs to professional athletes. I was brought into the story last Thursday and first spoke with Dr. Galea by phone on Friday evening. Our first conversation lasted nearly two hours. Then over last weekend, Dr. Galea and I spoke by phone several additional times and exchanged a half dozen email messages.
GS: Tiger's agent Mark Steinberg followed up his bizarre initial comments in the story by saying, "The New York Times is flat wrong, no one at IMG has ever met or recommended Dr. Galea, nor were we worried about the progress of Tiger's recovery, as the Times falsely reported." In the story, you write that Dr. Galea said Tiger was "referred to him by the golfer’s agents at Cleveland-based International Management Group, who were alarmed at the slow pace of Mr. Woods’s rehabilitation after knee surgery in June 2008." Later on the suggestion is made "In February, discouraged by the lack of progress, Dr. Lindsay asked Dr. Galea to look at Mr. Woods, who was suffering from patellar tendinitis and had scarring in the muscle." Can you speak to Mr. Steinberg's claims and clarify how the Times believes Tiger became associated with Dr. Galea?
DVN: Dr. Lindsay and Dr. Galea both told me that Dr. Galea was brought in to assist in Tiger’s rehabilitation, with the knowledge and blessing of agents at I.M.G. They both said that when Dr. Galea first examined Tiger, the golfer was suffering from tendonitis in his left knee and stubborn scarring. They said Tiger and his representatives were not pleased with the slow pace of his recovery. Both Dr. Lindsay and Dr. Galea said agents at I.M.G. routinely refer them both to their athlete-clients who need treatment.
GS: Mark Steinberg also said, "The treatment Tiger received is a widely accepted therapy and to suggest some connection with illegality is recklessly irresponsible." But as I read the story, no assertion was ever made that the platelet therapy was illegal. However, the doctor's use of other alternative and illegal drugs does appear to raise questions as to why Woods would associate with a doctor using sometimes unlawful methods?
DVN: That’s right. We never said -- nor did we suggest -- that PRP was illegal. The story raised questions about why Tiger Woods associated with a doctor who is accused now by Canadian authorities of using unlawful methods. The follow-up questions I would ask Mr. Steinberg are: Why did IMG allow their most valuable client to get treatment in his own home from a doctor who he says they had never met? Did Tiger receive treatment from Dr. Galea without IMG’s knowledge and/or permission?
GS: While sharing what appear to be extensive on-the-record comments by Dr. Galea, it is noted that "his practice has become a regular destination for injured professional athletes, including N.F.L. players who take red-eye flights on Monday nights for treatment on Tuesdays, their day off," yet Tiger Woods was treated at his Orlando home on several occasions. Did Dr. Galea ever speak as to why he made the unique gesture of flying to Florida?
DVN: No. But our reporting shows most of Tiger’s nine-month rehabilitation occurred in his personal gym inside his home outside Orlando.
GS: In the story, Dr. Galea is reported as saying that in October, "he heard again from Mr. Woods that his knee was still bothering him, 'but all this stuff started with the investigation, and I couldn’t go see him.'" Did the doctor indicate whether his inability to treat Woods since October was a product of his schedule changing due to the investigation, or because Woods decided to no longer seek treatment from Dr. Galea?
DVN: I was surprised by Dr. Galea’s comments that indicated Tiger was hurting more during this past season than we had known. Dr. Galea told me that Tiger wanted further PRP treatment but he could not go to Orlando because of the criminal investigation.
Thursday, December 17, 2009 at 08:55 PM 25 Comments | in Golf Media, Steroids, Tiger Woods, Tiger Woods Accident
Reader Comments (25)
(1) don't canadian doctors have the same obligation to keep a patient's medical information confidential as american doctors? i'm as interested in the story as anyone, but why in the world would galea say anything to the media about the details of his professional interaction with any patient? i know hipaa is an american statute, but surely there is a canadian equivalent?
(2) why would tiger need img's or anyone's "permission" to seek medical treatment? it seems to me this question has tiger's relationship with his "handlers" exactly backwards.
Tiger is supposed to be a smart guy, but I think it's pretty standard with agents for high profile athletes to be very protective and proactive when it comes to medical issues. Maybe Tiger can go to whatever doctor he chooses for his ED or his insomnia, but when it comes to something as important as a knee, I think the agents would be VERY involved with any treatment decisions. Too much risk involved.
Honestly, this whole affair, no pun intended is way far more reaching than the integrity of golf, you really have no idea some of you posters.
The negativity of women's opinions toward Tiger Woods knows no bounds - he has become the poster boy representing the guy in every woman's life who was a lying cheating cad and they are unloading both barrels. Multiple times.
Welcome Media Superstar: GEOFF SHACKELFORD!
DVN: I can't reveal my sources.
dsl: Do you use the word 'tip' to make it seem extra saucy and super-secret?
DVN: This interview is over.
"You mean I can be the guy to 'save' Tiger? Oh wait, you want ME to fly to Florida? That's two hours - are you crazy? Have him come to me. Hello? Hello?..."
The FBI investigation was the tip I believe he was alluding to, not the Canadian investigation. That was news.
thusgone,
Great point on client confidentiality. This was a long NY Times story, and mostly because Dr. Galea was talking about his patients.
Interesting. I was struck by the same thing. Doctor is guilty of being "professionally indiscreet" at best, much more egregious actions, at worst. Doctors and lawyers always have an easy out when the questions get nasty: invoke "patient/client confidentiality."
This guy is a blabbermouth and a salesman for sure. And Tiger's pre-trainwreck MO was to admit no weakness. So Tiger was dissembling on a number of fronts.
If you accept the Dr. Phillips' theory that IMG works for Tiger -- and i pretty much do -- then Steiny gains a measure of plausible deniability on this matter. Control freak that he is/was, would Tiger outsource such a vital decision? Of course, he would solicit recommendations from trusted advisors...so tough call.
RL
A) HIPPA (look it up if you need to) is an American act. It doesn't say Canada anywhere.
B) "Doctor" Galea is a snake and will do whatever and the heck he wants all pub is good pub. for snakes
C) El Tigre had his Rx at his home because he is a control freak
D) He rehabed at home because he is a control freak.
This very tightly woven persona has been cultivated by an iron-handed team. Those are the kind that are the most interesting to unravel.
Again, Tiger has always been a phony, just how much of one is so staggering as to the sycophants to be incomprehensible.
Geoff, More Rosie, please.
thanks for playing.
" No evidence has surfaced linking Tiger Woods to the use of performance-enhancing drugs, sources close to an investigation involving a Toronto doctor told The Buffalo News on Thursday.
Two of those sources said other professional athletes — but not Woods — could potentially wind up in trouble as a result of the federal investigation of Dr. Anthony Galea of Toronto.
'I know of nothing that has come up in this investigation that would indicate Tiger Woods was using [performance-enhancing drugs], and I know of nothing that would put him into any trouble with law enforcement,' said one source close to the probe.
While Woods faces damaging fallout from recent revelations that he cheated on his wife with an assortment of mistresses, no evidence from the Galea investigation indicates that he cheated in his bodybuilding regime with steroids or human growth hormone drugs, four sources close to the investigation told The News.
'Tiger is getting kind of a bad rap with all the publicity on this investigation,' one of the sources said. 'The treatment he got from [Galea] was treatment for his knee injury.'”
http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/story/898246.html