After its interview with Dr. Neal ElAttrache last week, Major League Baseball said it does “not have any concerns” about the Los Angeles-based orthopedic surgeon’s treatment of its players.
The league spoke to ElAttrache following a New York Times report that he supported the therapeutic use of performance-enhancing drugs for UFC fighter Conor McGregor during his recovery from a severe leg fracture. ElAttrache oversaw the surgery to repair the leg McGregor broke in a 2021 fight, according to The Times.
The head physician of the Dodgers and Rams, ElAttrache denied any wrongdoing. ElAttrache didn’t prescribe McGregor the drugs in question. What he did was write a letter “supporting McGregor’s application for a special exemption that would have allowed him to use performance-enhancing drugs without facing a penalty,” according to The Times.
“You are acting as if ‘banned drugs’ are somehow ‘illegal drugs’ or that they have no legitimate therapeutic use and only have performance enhancement use,” ElAttrache told The Times. “There are many ‘banned drugs’ on the list which are necessary to medically treat various conditions which occur in people. That is why a therapeutic use exemption application exists.”
A renowned surgeon who has introduced groundbreaking surgical techniques that have significantly reduced recovery times, ElAttrache has operated on everyone from Kobe Bryant to Tom Brady to Shohei Ohtani. ElAttrache recently removed loose bodies from the elbow of Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell using a NanoNeedle Scope 2.0, a new medical device that is smaller than a traditional arthroscope. Snell started throwing just 2 ½ weeks after the procedure.
MLB’s statement read: “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. 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.”
