MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) -
Derek Boogaard was given more than 100 prescriptions for painkillers and sleeping pills by team doctors for the Minnesota Wild and New York Rangers in his final three NHL seasons.
That's according to a New York Times report based on documents gathered by Len Boogaard, Derek's father. Those documents show:
- Boogaard was given at least 25 prescriptions from ten doctors for hydrocodone or oxycodone (622 pills total), between October 2008 to April 2009. Among those ten doctors were eight associated with the Minnesota Wild, an oral surgeon in Minneapolis and a doctor for another NHL team.
- In the fall of 2010, a New York Rangers team official was notified of Boogaard's prescription painkiller abuse, but Boogaard was issued the first of five prescriptions for hydrocodone by a team dentist.
- Another Rangers team doctor, aware of Boogaard's addiction to sleep aides, wrote nearly ten prescriptions for Ambien during Boogaard's single season in New York.
A fatal combination of alcohol and oxycodone ended Boogaard's life last May. The 28-year-old fan favorite was found dead in his Minneapolis apartment.
After the medical examiner's report, Boogaard's agent Ron Salcer said he feels pain medications have been made too accessible to athletes.
"I do think these pain meds get prescribed way too easily," he said. "Athletes, hockey players, deal with a lot of pain and injuries and want to get through them. There just has to be more education before they get prescribed. That is what concerns me."
