by John Luciew | jluciew@pennlive.com | February 07, 2024

A fired Penn State football doctor’s four-year legal odyssey over what he claims was his wrongful demotion is one step away from finally reaching a jury.

But lawyers for Penn State Health, Dr. Scott Lynch’s ongoing employer, argued before a Dauphin County judge Wednesday the case should never get that far. Instead, they’re asking Judge Andrew Dowling to end Lynch’s lawsuit now by awarding a summary judgement to Milton S. Hershey Medical Center.

“Dr. Lynch has had four years to litigate this matter. It must come to an end,” Penn State Health attorney Sarah Bouchard told Dowling.

But Lynch’s lawyer, Steven F. Marino, argued the heart of the case comes down to a finding of fact for a jury, which could be empaneled as early as next month should Dowling allow it to proceed.

Marino said the facts at odds are the dueling reasons for why Lynch was dismissed from his roles as Penn State’ director of athletic medicine and orthopedic consultant to the football team back in 2019.

Penn State Health and Dr. Kevin Black, Lynch’s former supervisor there, allegedly told Lynch he was out at Penn State athletics because he lacked a primary residence in State College and a local doctor would better serve the health and welfare of PSU athletes.

But Marino argues Lynch was ousted from his PSU athletics role due to his repeated clashes with Penn State Football Coach James Franklin. Marino said Franklin repeatedly tried to interfere with Lynch’s medical decisions in order to rush injured players back to the field.

“Coach Franklin interfered with the medical management and return-to-play decisions” by Dr. Lynch, Marino told the judge.

Dowling listened to the legal arguments on both sides and took notes on several cases cited by Penn State Health’s attorneys. But he issued no opinion from the bench. His decision likely will come in written form sometime later this month, according to attorneys.

The timetable is consistent with a March 11 trial date that has been set in the case. This means jury selection would begin around March 4.

“If we don’t get to the jury, something’s wrong,” Marino told a PennLive reporter after the hearing.

Should Dowling refuse to issue a summary judgment, the only other thing that could head off a trial would be an out-of-court settlement.

Asked about the possibility of this, Marino told a reporter: “Depends on how much money they have,” referring to Penn State. “What does Coach Franklin earn in a year?”

For his part, Lynch told a reporter he wouldn’t accept a settlement that prevents him from discussing his experience, rail against medical interference by college coaches and advance the cause of independent medical treatment of all players across college sports.

“I’m not going to be muzzled,” Lynch said.

In pushing for summary judgment, Bouchard argued that “at-will” employees like Lynch can sue for wrongful termination only if they can prove they were being pressured by an employer to violate Pennsylvania law.

She added that various medical policies and care standards set forth in the medical practices act, the Medicare Act and patients’ bill of rights don’t rise to the level of law and aren’t specific enough to cover Lynch’s duties. Besides, Bouchard said, Lynch was never compelled by anyone to “perform medical acts contrary to his own medical decisions.”

“At all times, (Dr. Lynch) was able to assert his medical judgment,” Bouchard said.

But Lynch says in his lawsuit he was hampered in his duties by Franklin’s repeated interference with his medical decisions. Lynch says these repeated clashes led Penn State athletics to pressure Penn State Health to dismiss him as PSU’s director of athletic medicine and orthopedic consultant to the football team.

Lynch is separately suing Black, his then-supervisor, who informed Lynch he was out at Penn State athletics in early 2019. In addition to arguing for summary judgment to end Lynch’s lawsuit, Bouchard told the judge that Black should be dismissed from the case because Lynch can’t prove Black acted with “malfeasance” or willful harm.

“He was doing his job,” Bouchard said of Black.

Marino countered he doesn’t need to prove “malfeasance” on Black’s part, just “misfeasance” – a lower legal standard of failing to perform a duty correctly.

Penn State, Penn State Health and Black have all denied Lynch’s allegations, saying they opted for a State College-based doctor to fill Lynch’s previous roles to ensure student-athletes had more immediate medical access.

Lynch, a former national champion wrestler at Penn State, was appointed to the orthopedic position with the football program for the 2013 season and was made the university’s director of athletic medicine for the following season, the first under Franklin.

Lynch, 62, an orthopedic surgeon, remains director of sports medicine at Penn State Health but says his sports-medicine-focused practice has been damaged by his dismissal from duties with Penn State athletics and football.

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