Through this experience, I finally understood the supreme importance of the patient-physician relationship and the role of empathy in fostering that relationship. My interactions with this former alcoholic led to one of my most profound lessons in compassion and empathy to date.
Dr. Larry Nassar is accused of sexually abusing gymnasts like Jeanette Antolin, who says he built trust with girls by giving them candy. Dantzscher told LaPook that Nassar didnât use a glove. Nassar was a longtime doctor for women and girls at Indianapolis-based USA Gymnastics, which trains Olympians. He has denied any abuse, and, in an email last fall to his Michigan State bosses, said, âI will overcome this.â
While he was on staff at Michigan State, Nassar was the chief medical coordinator of the USA Womenâs gymnastics team for a period of 19 years, and now, many of the athletes he treated are coming forward with allegations, saying they were so young when he abused them that they didn't understand what he was doing.