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Former LSU safety Greg Brooks Jr. has filed a lawsuit against the school and its affiliated medical center for negligence.
In the lawsuit filed in East Baton Rouge Parish and obtained by Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger, Brooks has accused Tigers coaches of threatening to take away his starting job while he was ill and said team trainers did not appropriately diagnose his condition and refused to recommend him to a neurological specialist for weeks.
Brooks also alleged he suffered “catastrophic neurological injuries” and said he is “permanently disabled” from brain surgery he had at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge.
A team captain for LSU going into the 2023 season, Brooks experienced dizziness and nausea in early August during the Tigers’ preseason camp. Following increased symptoms and tests, Brooks eventually played two games during his senior year before undergoing an MRI that revealed a brain tumor.
Brooks’ family announced he underwent surgery to remove the mass on Sept. 20, 2023. Head coach Brian Kelly said leading up to a Sept. 16 game against Mississippi State that Brooks would be unable to play due to a medical emergency.
In an update posted on LSU’s athletic website on Oct. 4, 2023, it was revealed Brooks was diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer known as medulloblastoma.
Catherine O’Neal, MD, Chief Medical Officer at Our Lady of the Lake Health, said in the update that Brooks’ “speech and ability to communicate has been impacted” and he would need “months of intensive rehabilitation.”
According to the lawsuit, Brooks said he suffered “multiple strokes” during the surgery from “acts of malpractice.” Dellenger noted the alleged acts are being addressed in a medical review of malpractice claims filed by Brooks’ family.
A hearing is scheduled for Feb. 10 in front of Judge Tiffany Foxworth-Roberts of the 19th Judicial District Court, Parish of East Baton Rouge.
LSU issued a comment to Dellenger about the lawsuit:
“While LSU cannot comment on ongoing litigation, Greg Brooks remains in our thoughts and prayers as he continues to work through the rehabilitation process. Since the beginning of our agreement with our Championship Health Partner, Our Lady of the Lake, they have provided exceptional medical care for our student-athletes in all of our sports.”
In a request Brooks’ attorneys sent to the Division of Administration’s Medical Review Panel, the document states that Brooks “will likely need care for the rest of his life for the injuries he sustained as a result of his providers’ malpractice” and “will likely never be able to work and/or care for himself without the assistance of others.”
Dellenger noted Brooks is still unable to walk, use his right hand and has “considerable difficulty speaking” more than one year after his surgery due to a condition known as posterior fossa syndrome that can occur in some patients after a surgical procedure.
According to Dellenger, Brooks recently had a procedure done at a Memphis hospital and previously spent nine months going through “protracted hospitalization, rehabilitation and recovery” following his initial procedure.
Brooks had a five-year college career from 2019 to ’23. He played his first three seasons at Arkansas before transferring to LSU prior to the 2022 campaign. The Louisiana native appeared in all 14 games in his first year with the program
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