The survivors of Larry Nassar have reached a settlement with the USA Gymnastics and the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee. The survivors will get $380 million. The New York Times says that most of the money will come from the insurers of USA Gymnastics.
Much of the money will be used to help the survivors pay for treatment that was needed to heal the wounds left by Nassar. Not all of the victims of Nassar made the Olympic team or signed lucrative endorsement deals. Most of the people who Nassar abused needed this lawsuit to help finish covering the cost of healthcare, but it doesn't make the more famous members of the team any less deserving of settlement money. USA Gymnastics and the USOPC were involved in the abuse. Athletes shouldn't have to pay for the treatment they need to heal.
Nassar was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison after pleading guilty to seven counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct. The allegations of the former USA Gymnastics team doctor were made public in a 2016 Indianapolis Star report. A gymnast filed a lawsuit in California against Nassar for sexually abusing her during medical treatments, and against USA Gymnastics for not acting on suspicions of his abusive conduct. Rachel Delhollander filed criminal charges against Nassar. 150 women and girls testified at the disgraced doctor's criminal trial that he sexually abused them.
He was also abusive at Michigan State. The university agreed to pay $500 million to survivors due to its failure to properly respond to suspicions of Nassar's abuse while employed by the school. A portion of the sum was paid out to current survivors and more was to be held in case more came forward.
The organizations spent nearly $1 billion on settlements because they chose to protect a predator rather than the people they were supposed to care for.
Hundreds of people are dealing with pain because of Nassar's predatory behavior, and neither this money nor his sentence will help them. When someone who parents trust to take care of their children takes advantage of that role, it is a level of monster that is different from Abusing children.
It is a monster that could have been stopped years ago, but no one made it a priority. The lives of hundreds of girls were changed forever, and their reward is a slice of this $880 million settlement pie and the pain of reliving what happened every time they deal with that settlement, and every time they hear Nassar.
