So, I've done some searching around the interwebz, as I was wondering how @F's RRG would exactly plan on defending themselves and the commune against a rhabdo lawsuit. You lawyers feel free to chime in...
Diagnosis and confirmation of rhabdo in the medical literature would seem to be pretty straightforward:
http://www.residentandstaff.com/issues/ ... -06_03.asp
It would seem hard to deny an independent physician's diagnosis.
Obviously, there is already the precedent of Makimba Mimms' rhabdo lawsuit decision against an @F affiliate:
http://www.valawyersweekly.com/vlwblog/ ... /#more-798
Jury awards $300,000 in gym lawsuit
October 9th, 2008
In a case that surely will have gym owners checking their liability coverage, a Prince William County man has won a $300,000 jury verdict against a gym where he underwent a “CrossFit” workout regimen that, he claimed, left him disabled.
Makimba Mimms, 29, sued Manassas World Gym, Ruthless Training Concepts and its former employee, Javier Lopez. Mimms, a former Navy information systems technician first class, said Lopez oversaw a CrossFit workout at the gym in 2005 that caused his leg muscles to break down. The jury found all three defendants liable, according to the Washington Post.
CrossFit, which was not named as a defendant in the suit, is a fitness program popular in law enforcement and military circles and has been criticized as being dangerously intense.
The medical literature on "white collar rhabdomyolysis", which happens often enough to have its own name:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m ... 1013/pg_3/
Exertional rhabdomyolysis frequently occurs in people who are not adequately conditioned before severe exertion (Bonventre et al., 1995). One type of exertional rhabdomyolysis, termed "white-collar rhabdomyolysis," is observed in people such as physicians, businessmen, and attorneys who participate in competitive sports without being adequately conditioned to keep pace with a conditioned athlete (Bonventre et al, 1995; Knochel, 1998).
New free CFJ on the RRG:
http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/CF ... Reward.pdf
“CrossFit Headquarters was involved in trying to help out the defendant in that case,” CrossFit lawyer Dale Saran said on an Apr. 28 episode of CrossFit Radio. “The insurance defense attorneys, we offered to help them out, and they didn’t want any part of it. They didn’t want our expertise on rhabdo.”
They are experts on rhabdo, that's for sure, got the recipe for rhabdo perfected I'd say...
A study done on prison inmates who gave themselves rhabdo sounds very familiar to those who know @F:
http://www.charlydmiller.com/LIB04/1994 ... habdo.html
RESULTS
The study population consisted of 35 male patients with an average age of 24.4 ± 5.4 years. Nineteen patients were black, 15 were Hispanic, and one was white. All patients were imprisoned at Rykers Correctional Institution at the time of admission.
Past medical history did not disclose previous episodes of rhabdomyolysis in any of the patients. No patient described similar histories of muscle weakness from exercise or family members with any muscle problems. Although nine patients gave a history of ethanol abuse, no patient admitted to intake within 24 hours before heavy exercise. Eight patients had a history of drug abuse, but all denied use at the time of exertion. None of the patients admitted to taking nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs within 24 hours of muscle pain from exercise. Urine and blood toxicologic tests were all negative for all patients.
Thirty-one of the patients did squat-thrusts with or without weights, two patients did chin-ups, one patient lifted heavy weights, and one ran a long distance. These repetitive exercises were done not as part of a usual exercise routine but as a consequence of losing a game of dominoes. The number of squat-thrusts varied between 75 and 900, with weights from 40 to 170 lb.
Patients presented an average 2.7 ± 0.3 days (range, 0 to 5 days) after exertion. All patients complained of thigh or arm pain. A change in urine color was noted by every patient. On initial vital signs, no patient was found to be hypotensive (systolic blood pressure less than 100 mm Hg), tachycardic (pulse more than 100), or orthostatic (drop in systolic blood pressure more than 10 mm Hg or pulse change more than 10 with change in position) to any significant degree of hypovolemia. No patient presented with frank hyperthermia (temperature more than 39.4° C), flushing, or lack of sweating characteristic of heat stroke. On physical examination, trace edema of the involved extremities was the only consistent finding.
Random (as in not "usual"), high rep, functional exercises...I'm guessing they were done at a relatively high "intensity".
A quick search of "rhabdo" or "rhabdomyolysis" on the @F message board and daily comments pages would likely bring up a bunch.
The CFJ articles on rhabdo.
http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/38 ... rhabdo.pdf
http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/33 ... rkouts.pdf
Mocking Makimba Mimms on the mainpage with a video of children doing the same workout.
Glassman's own quotes from the NYT article, which I posted previously, contain an admission that @F is inherently dangerous.
Seriously, with all of the history of rhabdo and all of the above, how could this even be defended? According to the RRG info, it would seem it is mainly being created because the specter of a successful rhabdo lawsuit hangs so heavy and frequent over this group...anyone?
