David Bell, a wide receiver who played for the Cleveland Browns, has filed a multi-million-dollar civil lawsuit alleging that complications from a surgical procedure left him unable to continue his professional playing career and placed his life at risk.
The lawsuit, filed by Bell, 25, names Jefferson Health entities, surgeon Dr. William Meyers, and more than a dozen additional defendants, with damages sought totalling over $300 million, according to court filings cited by a news outlet. The complaint was lodged Thursday in Philadelphia County court.
The filing states that a "core muscle repair" procedure performed before the 2025 season was intended to address ongoing discomfort tied to an earlier hip injury. Documents filed by Bell's legal team — comprising attorneys Brad Sohn and Nathan Werksman — allege that the named defendants participated in a financial arrangement that prompted Bell to undergo surgery after pelvic MRI findings were, according to those attorneys, presented to him inaccurately.
The court filing contends that Meyers and radiologist Adam Zoga provided Bell with a falsified MRI interpretation dated May 19, 2025, which the document alleges then prompted the decision to proceed with surgery.
According to the lawsuit, Bell maintains that pre-operative counselling presented the procedure — also referred to as the Meyers Repair — as low-risk and capable of resolving his persistent discomfort. Upon regaining consciousness, however, he discovered that a vascular complication, attributed in the filing to Dr. Meyers severing his femoral artery during the operation, had placed him in a life-threatening condition. The filing states that an emergency ambulance transfer to Thomas Jefferson Hospital followed, where vascular reconstruction was performed.
Arterial repair and grafting kept Bell alive, yet his legal team contends the procedures ended his professional career. At a press conference, attorney Sohn stated that the lawsuit alleges the defendants promoted the procedure through misleading representations as part of what the filing characterises as a financially motivated scheme, and that the operation was one the patient did not require.
Sohn also noted that the Cleveland Browns are not named in the lawsuit, adding in a social media post that the franchise had stood behind Bell throughout his ordeal and that the University Hospitals team played a meaningful role in his recovery.
In a written statement, Jefferson Health disputed the allegations, pointing out that the physician at the centre of the complaint had no employment relationship with the organisation and that the procedure itself took place elsewhere. A spokesperson further noted that the health system had provided treatment to the patient and intended to defend both its care and its standing.
Bell, a third-round selection in the 2022 NFL Draft, spent three years on the Browns roster, finishing his tenure with 41 catches for 408 yards and three touchdowns across 32 appearances. He sustained a hip injury in September 2024 that ended his season. Bell was placed on the non-football injury list at the start of the 2025 campaign and stepped away from the sport by October of that year.
