NFL Board Paid $2M to Players While League Denied Football-Concussion Link --FRONTLINE

[Up2Late]

I'm really torn about this subject, because I love watching NFL Football, but something more needs be done to help these guys after their NFL days are over.

And as they say, sometimes it's not the crime, but the cover-up that gets you in trouble.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sports/concussion-watch/nfl-board-paid-2m-to-players-while-league-denied-football-concussion-link/

NFL Board Paid $2M to Players While League Denied Football-Concussion Link

The NFL’s retirement board awarded disability payments to at least three former players after concluding that football caused their crippling brain injuries — even as the league’s top medical experts for years consistently denied any link between the sport and long-term brain damage.

The board paid at least $2 million in disability benefits to the players in the late 1990s and 2000s, documents obtained in a joint investigation by ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” and FRONTLINE show. The approvals were outlined in previously unpublished documents and medical records (pdf) related to the 1999 disability claim of Hall of Fame center Mike Webster....(clip)

(clip)...In 2005, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, upholding the lawsuit of Webster’s estate (pdf) against the NFL’s retirement plan, referred to “eight other cases of [total and permanent] disability due to brain damage” and said the neutral physician played a critical role in determining the outcome.

“In every such case in which the neutral physician offered a clear, conclusive assessment of the applicant’s disability, the board chose to follow the neutral recommendation,” the court wrote.

Asked about the league’s assertion at the time that football did not cause long-term brain damage, Westbrook said: “I don’t think it’s rocket science to say that there’s chronic injury — from head injury — in football. I mean, we’ve all talked about it. I don’t know where they’re coming from....” (more at link)

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sports/concussion-watch/nfl-board-paid-2m-to-players-while-league-denied-football-concussion-link/

"ESPN reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Steve Fainaru are writing a book about football and brain injuries, to be published in 2013 by Crown Books, a division of Random House. FRONTLINE, in partnership with ESPN’s Outside the Lines, is producing a documentary based on the reporters’ research. This article is a product of these partnerships; you can watch a related segment produced for Outside the Lines...(at the link above)."

[Up2Late]

1. kick

[malaise]

2. K & R

Get thee to the greatest page - important topic

[Up2Late]

3. I guess those who agree are watching the games today...

...maybe they will see this afterward.

[Up2Late]

4. Here's another mention about this on NPR

A Peek At Basketball, How Head Trauma In The NFL

http://www.npr.org/2012/11/17/165345523/a-peek-at-basketball-how-head-trauma-in-the-nfl

...SIMON: And we are talking about three marquee names in the NFL, between Jay Cutler of the Bears, Michael Vick of the Philadelphia Eagles and Alex Smith of the San Francisco 49ers. Jay Cutler and Michael Vick won't start this weekend. Alex Smith will, scheduled against the Bears. So after all these vows about pro football taking concussions seriously, what's going on here?

GOLDMAN: Well, the NFL is taking it seriously, I believe. It better, because it's being sued by more than 3,800 former players over the issue of head injuries. Late this week, in fact, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell gave a speech at Harvard all about safety and head injuries and possible further rules changes. So he remains dedicated to the cause.

The basic rule of new think with concussions is get the player the heck out of the game as soon as he gets hurt and don't let him returned until he's absolutely recovered. That can take, you know, a week or two or more.

But yes, Cutler and Smith seem to have violated that rule. They played after they reportedly suffered their concussive blow. Cutler reportedly didn't have symptoms for a while. Smith did, however, and, you know, he had immediate blurred vision that he played through....

(more and audio at link)


http://www.npr.org/2012/11/17/165345523/a-peek-at-basketball-how-head-trauma-in-the-nfl
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[malaise]

5. Thanks

Kick