MLB clears Dodgers Dr. Neal ElAttrache after link

Major League Baseball says it has no issues about Dodgers and Rams head workforce doctor Dr. Neal ElAttrache working with gamers.

ElAttrache was questioned by MLB on June 12 following a detailed report by the New York Times that the famend surgeon and sports activities drugs professional supported the therapeutic use of performance-enhancing medicine by UFC star Conor McGregor.

“MLB took our responsibility to conduct due diligence in this matter seriously. We interviewed Dr. Neal ElAttrache last week, covering multiple topics, and he answered our questions thoroughly,” MLB said in a assertion obtained by The Times Tuesday night time.

“Based on our interview, the review of relevant records, Dr. ElAttrache’s long history of support for and cooperation with the Joint Drug Program and the fact that no Therapeutic Use Exemption requests of this nature have been submitted by Dr. ElAttrache or anyone else, we do not have any concerns regarding Dr. ElAttrache’s treatment of MLB players, or his adherence to the Joint Drug Programs and related rules.

“We consider this matter closed.”

ElAttrache carried out surgical procedure on McGregor in July 2021, inserting a rod, plates and screws into his left leg after the fighter broke his tibia and fibula during a blended martial arts bout against Dustin Poirier in Las Vegas.

McGregor’s recovery was prolonged and arduous. ElAttrache told the New York Times that while he didn’t prescribe steroids for McGregor, he referred him to a specialist who did. Furthermore, ElAttrache wrote a letter supporting McGregor’s request for a therapeutic use exemption from UFC drug insurance policies.

“I felt it would be appropriate to consult other physicians with expertise in bone healing/bone metabolism,” ElAttrache told the New York Times via textual content. “I recommended the consultations but not the course of treatment.”

ElAttrache said he told McGregor to test with UFC drug testers about prescriptions the guide gave him. “I purposely wasn’t involved with his evaluation by the consultant nor with prescribing medication,” ElAttrache said.

The exemption request was denied by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, the drug testing group the UFC used at the time, triggering a break up between the 2 organizations. McGregor withdrew from the UFC anti-doping program shortly thereafter and no longer was required to endure testing for banned substances.

The report prompted MLB to discuss with ElAttrache about his strategy to treating gamers.

ElAttrache, working primarily out of the Cedars-Sinai Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic in Los Angeles, has carried out elbow or shoulder surgical procedures on distinguished Dodgers past and current, including Shohei Ohtani, Clayton Kershaw, Tony Gonsolin and Walker Buehler as properly as former Rams stars Cooper Kupp and Cam Akers.

Among the a whole bunch of surgical procedures carried out over three many years by ElAttrache, his sufferers embrace the 4 2024 MLB most useful participant and Cy Young Award winners — Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Chris Sale and Tarik Skubal. ElAttrache’s sufferers embrace 18 of 29 gamers who received the MVP or Cy Young awards over the past 10 years.

“I have spoken with MLB and I am very comfortable with the process that the league and I will complete to assure the public that I have followed every rule and regulation in my medical treatment of athletes without exception,” ElAttrache said in a assertion to the Los Angeles Times earlier this month. “My record is completely clean, including in this case.”

Times employees writers Steve Henson, Bill Shaikin, Sam Farmer and Gary Klein contributed to this report.