The cost of sex abuse: Victims, schools take on settlements

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — One man believes he missed his chance to play in the National Hockey League because he lost focus after being sexually abused by an Ohio State team doctor. Two former wrestlers say they left their sport because of it and delayed finishing their college degrees. A tennis player says he became so leery of medical exams that he lived with months of pain before getting treatment for a benign testicular tumor.

And an alumnus says his experiences with Dr. Richard Strauss gave him panic attacks, upended his dreams of becoming a literature professor, contributed to a troubled marriage and haunted him for over two decades.

The men count the cost in the gap between what is and what-ifs — in stunted athletic and academic pursuits, altered careers, physical and mental health issues, and spoiled relationships with their parents or spouses or children. But who puts a price on that fallout, and how?

That's one of the looming questions as lawsuits against Ohio State by the late doctor's accusers move through mediation in pursuit of possible settlements, after an investigation for the university found that Strauss sexually abused at least 177 young men between 1979 and 1997 and that school officials heard concerns but didn't stop him.

Seven lawsuits brought by more than 165 men allege university employees turned a blind eye for years while the doctor fondled health clinic patients and male athletes from a variety of sports under the guise of medical care.

"Ohio State allowed something life-changing to happen to us, you know?" said one plaintiff, the would-be professor. "And what they need to do now is something life-changing in the positive, for a lot of people."

The Associated Press doesn't typically identify people who say they are survivors of sexual...