Start by Believing by John Barr & Dan Murphy

Start by Believing by John Barr & Dan Murphy

Author:John Barr & Dan Murphy [Barr, John & Murphy, Dan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hachette Books
Published: 2020-01-14T00:00:00+00:00


Thomashow knew immediately that what happened to her in Nassar’s exam room was sexual assault. She said so out loud as she settled into a chair at her therapist’s office less than an hour later. The visit was previously scheduled, the next item on her list of appointments and errands for the day.

“Okay, Amanda,” the therapist told her. “Do you want to leave now to report this to police or should we finish your session first?”

She needed to tell her mother first. She needed to process exactly what had happened and come up with a plan for how to proceed. Two weeks later, she returned to the MSU Sports Medicine Clinic building at 7:00 a.m. on a Monday morning, arriving early in hopes of avoiding a chance run-in with Nassar. She had called Dr. Jeff Kovan, a fellow physician and the head of the small group at the clinic, over the weekend and explained her concerns. Dr. Kovan agreed to meet with her as soon as possible and for privacy ushered her up a back staircase—the same one Nassar frequently used for his after-hours appointments.

Thomashow apologetically explained to Kovan why she felt violated. She told him Nassar massaged her vaginal area with three of his fingers in a circular motion for more than a minute. She told him about the touchy-feely exam before then and the resident leaving the room. She told him she’d heard from other friends that he made them uncomfortable as well. She mentioned she had checked Nassar’s Instagram page and could not understand why a fifty-year-old man was liking so many photos of young girls.

According to Thomashow, Kovan chuckled at the last comment. He said Nassar had told his colleagues years earlier that he had been flagged for suspicious behavior on Facebook but that it was a misunderstanding because he used the site to keep in contact with his young patients. Facebook doesn’t publicly share information about any action it takes against individual accounts, but a spokeswoman said the company removes accounts that exploit children. They monitor potentially exploitative behavior with technology that can recognize child nudity in images and also rely on other users to raise concerns about problematic messages or activity. When an account is removed, it can’t be reinstated. Someone would have to create a new account to rejoin the site. Nassar’s coworkers knew his access to Facebook was restricted at one point, but he later returned to the site and continued to use it and other social media to communicate and schedule appointments with his young patients.

Kovan assured her Nassar was an expert of pelvic floor manipulations but said he would send her concerns through the proper channels.

Three weeks passed before Thomashow heard from anyone else at the university. In mid-May, she received a phone call from a woman named Kristine Moore, who told Thomashow she was an assistant director at the university’s Office of Inclusion. Part of her job was to investigate complaints of sexual assault to see if they violated Title IX policy.



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