Panel gets time for review of doc’s check

A panel reviewing whether the State Medical Board prop- erly handled a 1990s investigation involving an Ohio State University team doctor now accused of widespread sexual abuse is getting more time to finish its work.

Republican Gov. Mike DeWine created the work- ing group in May after a law firm investigation for the school concluded the late doctor, Richard Strauss, sexually abused more than 177 young men between 1979 and 1997.

DeWine had ordered the working group’s findings be delivered by Thursday. But DeWine spokesman Dan Tier- ney says the panel requested and is getting more time. Tierney says the group’s report might be done within a couple weeks, but the exact date is uncertain.

Little is publicly known about the old medical board investigation because details have remained confidential under state law. severely allergic to the fruit.

WSYX-TV re p orts t he teacher at the Starling K-8 school in Columbus went into anaphylactic shock and ended up at the hospital after three seventh-graders smeared bananas on her door and threw the fruit at her in class last November. A sign on the door had warned students that the room was supposed to be a “bananafree zone.”

The station reports the students were charged with assault in juvenile court and have since served probation.

Columbus City Schools spokesman Scott Wortman says the district hopes it was a “teachable moment” for the students involved and others about “the potentially life-threatening consequences of food allergies.”