IN REGGIE LEWIS DEATH SUIT, DEFENSE LOOKS FOR DRUG USE

Lawyers and investigators defending the four Boston doctors sued by the
widow of Reggie Lewis are focusing on possible drug use by the former
Boston Celtic star as a contributing factor in his heart attack in 1993. A
former acquaintance of Lewis has testified in a deposition that he used
cocaine with Lewis on two occasions while they were enrolled at
Northeastern University in the mid-1980s, according to sources familiar
with the lawsuit. Also, the acquaintance, who in the deposition
acknowledged selling cocaine, heroin, and other drugs on the Northeastern
campus, testified that he gave Lewis cocaine free of charge 15-20 times and
saw Lewis at several parties where cocaine was being used, the sources said.

Beyond the damage to Lewis's reputation, the allegations about drug use are
significant because they raise the possibility that he lied about previous
use of drugs during the application process for an insurance policy taken
out by the Celtics when he signed his $16.5 million contract in 1991. The
lead attorney representing Donna Harris-Lewis, the executrix of Lewis's
estate, declined to discuss any allegations and said that the case
ultimately will be decided on the doctors' diagnosis and treatment of
Lewis. ``The truth is that the doctors recklessly misdiagnosed Reggie Lewis
and he relied on their misdiagnosis and died,'' said Robert G. Harley of
the New York firm Harley and Browne.

Lawyers for Dr. Gilbert H. Mudge Jr. and three other cardiac specialists at
Brigham and Women's Hospital have sought court approval to depose Derrick
Lewis, a friend and teammate of Reggie Lewis when they were at
Northeastern. In March 1995, Derrick Lewis told The Globe that he had used
cocaine with Reggie Lewis five or six times between 1985 and 1993. Derrick
Lewis made similar statements to the Wall Street Journal but later recanted
them. Allegations that Lewis had used cocaine surfaced soon after his death
but they were sharply denied by his widow, Donna Harris-Lewis. Except for
Derrick Lewis, none of his former friends and teammates ever had
corroborated the allegations - until the deposition of the Northeastern
acquaintance.

However, at least two others who have been deposed also have testified
about Lewis's alleged drug use. One, a former employee of the Celtics'
front office, told the lawyers that he was present when Lewis used
marijuana on several occasions in 1988, 1989, and 1990.

In addition, Irwin Cohen, former Northeastern athletic director, testified
that he had been told by the school's team physician that Lewis had tested
positive for cocaine in March 1987 when the team was screened for the NCAA
tournament. However, Dr. Job E. Fuchs, the now-retired team physician, told
the lawyers that he could not recall whether Lewis had flunked the test for
cocaine, but said he trusted Cohen to have an accurate memory of the
conversation. He testified that Lewis passed a second, later test for
cocaine. The testimony has been given over the past several months in
depositions taken by Mudge's lawyers, William J. Dailey Jr. and John P.
Ryan, of the Boston firm Sloane and Walsh. Harley and Bridget Asaro,
lawyers for Harris-Lewis, also attended the sessions and questioned the
witnesses about their recollections. Lewis's widow has also attended most
of the sessions, including those of the former Northeastern acquaintance
and the former Celtics employee.

Following Lewis's death, the Massachusetts Medical Examiner's office
conducted an autopsy and found that his heart was severely scarred, a
condition they attributed to an ``adenovirus 2,'' a simple virus spread by
coughing and sneezing. In addition, they found damage to the aorta and his
heart's mitral valve.

Other cardiologists have been quoted anonymously as saying that similar
scarring of the heart can be caused by cocaine use.

Lawyers for Mudge and Donna Harris-Lewis have questioned about 30 people in
private depositions in the case, which is scheduled for trial next spring.
But Harris-Lewis's lawyers are concentrating on whether Mudge and the
cardiologists provided adequate treatment to Lewis during the three months
he was in their care.

Mudge drew fire following Lewis's death in late July 1993 for having
diagnosed a far less serious heart condition than diagnosed earlier by a
team of cardiologists and other specialists, who were drawn from hospitals
across the city. Mudge said at the time he believed Lewis suffered from a
fainting condition and, with further monitoring, could return to playing
basketball.

The other doctors, who were later nicknamed the Dream Team, examined Lewis
for three days at the New England Baptist Hospital following his collapse
during a Celtics' playoff game in April 1993, and diagnosed Lewis as
suffering from cardiomyopathy, a potentially life-threatening condition
that would have ended his basketball career.

Among other things, Mudge's lawyers are focusing on the Lewises' decision
to transfer Reggie Lewis from the Baptist to the Brigham, the sources said.
They are trying to determine if one of the reasons for the move may have
been to avoid a drug test at the Baptist. Donna Harris-Lewis has denied in
interviews that the doctors at the Baptist ever asked that a drug test be
taken. No such test was taken at the Brigham.

Soon after Reggie Lewis died, Harris-Lewis issued a statement supporting
Mudge and his efforts. However, in May 1996, Harris-Lewis filed a
malpractice suit against Mudge and his associates, Drs. Peter L. Friedman,
Mark A. Creager, and John D. Rutherford, claiming their treatment of her
husband was ``rendered carelessly, unskillfully, and negligently.'' While
Mudge had said publicly that he believed that Lewis, under medical
supervision, could play basketball again, the Globe was told in 1993 that
the cardiologist in fact had given Lewis far more cautious advice about his
condition in private conversations. What was said in those conversations
and whether Lewis followed Mudge's advice are issues also being explored in
the lawsuit, sources familiar with the suit said.

Lewis was 27 when he collapsed while working out at Brandeis University,
the practice facility used by the Celtics, with Chris Havlicek, the son of
Celtics star John Havlicek, and others. Three months before, on April 29,
1993, he had collapsed while playing for the Celtics in a game at Boston
Garden, and the next day had entered New England Baptist Hospital for
tests. Rumors of drug use by Lewis surfaced following his death, but the
issue erupted in March 1995, when the Wall Street Journal quoted two
cardiologists, not connected with the case, as saying that such scarring
was consistent with cocaine use. That report prompted the state Medical
Examiner's office to conduct a new examination of Lewis's heart tissue.
That month-long re-investigation, conducted by eight independent medical
consultants, found no evidence that the scarring on Lewis's heart was
caused by cocaine use. Instead, the investigation confirmed the original
findings of the autopsy: that the scarring likely was caused by the virus.
Northeastern University also conducted an investigation in 1995 to
determine if Lewis might have used cocaine or other illicit drugs while at
the school. That probe was ordered by Northeastern President John A. Curry
after Cohen told him of the conversation he said he had with Fuchs about
the results of cocaine testing of team members.

When Lewis in 1991 signed a five-year contract with the Celtics, he claimed
he had never used cocaine or marijuana in his life. Lewis checked off
``no'' in the box beside the question on drugs in the insurance policy
application. However, if it is determined that Lewis lied when he attested
on his insurance policy application that he never had used illegal drugs,
it is possible that the insurance company could seek to reclaim some or all
of its payments on the grounds that he committed fraud.

(c) Copyright 1998 Globe Newspaper Company.

Checked-by: Pat Dolan