Former MSU doctor Larry Nassar has several allegations and formal charges against him. It can be hard to understand what's going on and lawsuits can get pretty complicated. Law professor Anthony Flores says it's easier to understand if we break it down into three separate categories:
"He's got three counts of CSC first including a minor,” Flores said. “He's got child pornography cases for the possession of, he has the destruction of."
And there's the civil suit. Where MSU is also named as a defendant. There are nearly 30 plaintiffs so far and that number is growing every day.
"With so many plaintiffs, so many parties, a very large entity such as the university, it's going to take a lot of time and there's gonna be a lot of unraveling to do to really get to the bottom of everything that happened," Attorney Karen Truszkowski said.
One thing they're going to be looking for is if the way Nassar treated his patients was medically legitimate.
"Because without a doubt a doctor can't touch you invasively unless it's for medical practice," Flores said.
"If there was a finding of misconduct, the big issue would be who would be responsible or liable for that?" Truszkowski said.
And as the suit grows, so could that list of people.
But Nassar’s also facing charges where Professor Flores says he can't use the medical argument as a defense.
The charges of criminal sexual conduct with a minor stem from an incident outside of Nassar's medical practice.
"They're just saying you did that and you didn't even do it when you were a doctor,” Flores said. “You just did it because you know, you touched a kid."
Professor Flores says it's the worst form of criminal sexual conduct you can commit.
