While Watching The Super Bowl, Think Of Concussion-Suit Plaintiff Tony Dorsett

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Posted on 4th February 2012 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

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Well, the Associated Press has done the legwork, and gotten some of the stories behind, the batch of concussion-related lawsuits that have been filed by ex-players against the National Football League. These tales may put tomorrow’s football dog-and-pony show, the Super Bowl, in a new perspective.

There have been many articles written about the suits that recently have been filed against the NFL, suits that charge that the league either knew about, hid, or ignored evidence that repeated concussions can cause long-term brain damage in players.

But AP went quite a few steps beyond that, spending the last two months interviewing about a dozen of the more than 300 former players who are plaintiffs in the various suits.    

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/story/17085305/battling-with-memory-loss-dorsett-joins-concussion-lawsuit-against-nfl

AP’s conclusion won’t leave NFL officials with a warm and fuzzy feeling: “What emerged was, at best, a depiction of a culture of  indifference on the part of the league and its teams towards concussions and other injuries. At worst, there was a strong sense of a willful disregard for players’ well-being.”

Ouch. That may make the wings, chips and dip go down a little harder tomorrow if you’re an NFL official.

One of the former players that AP interviewed indepth was Tony Dorsett, who played for Pittsburgh and Dallas. An NFL Hall of Fame member, Dorsett offers up a chilling anecdote, particularly in light of what we know about concussions today.

Dorsett, who is only 57 now, recalled getting the worse hit in the head that he ever had in his career during a 1984 Cowboys-Eagles game. The Cowboys gave Dorsett a very brief exam in a locker room, and then sent him back out to play.  

To do something like that today would, in theory, be unthinkable. Dorsett would have undergone a thorough exam by a doctor, and undoubtedly would have been benched. Dorsett told AP that he was dazed and couldn’t think straight during that 1984 game, and that there were similar incidents were he suffered a concussion and was sent back out on the field.

Those helmet-to-helmet hits have taken their toll. Dorsett showed AP some of his brain scans, which indicate that the left side of his brain, which governs organization and memory, is lacking enough oxygen.

“He already forgets people’s names or why he walked into a room or where he’s heading while driving on a highway, and fears his memory issues are getting worse,” AP reported.

But that’s not the half of it.

“Other players describe an off-camera NFL that is darker than the carefully scripted show presented during  Super Bowl week,” according to AP.

The widespread use of painkillers by players, with the alleged encouragement of the league, and pressure from peers and coaches to play even if you were in incredible pain, are among the issues outlined by AP.

Dorsett isn’t the only ex-player who is bitter about what happened. Another retired player told AP that he expects the NFL to drag out the litigation, in the hope that older players will be dead by the time the whole mess is resolved.

So enjoy that half-time show with Madonna tomorrow, everyone.     

    

NFL’s Super Bowl Commercial: Rehabiltating An Image, Despite The Lawsuits

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Posted on 1st February 2012 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

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Brace yourself to see a commerical Sunday that you wouldn’t expect to pop up during the Super Bowl: An NFL ad on player safety.

The league, according to The New York Times, has anted up several million dollars to produce the TV spot and a companion website, nfl.com/evolution. It looks like it is an attempt to rehabilitate the NFL’s image.  

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/31/sports/football/nfl-to-address-head-injuries-in-commercial.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=sports

The NFL has 120 seconds of very, very valuable commercial avails on NBC during the big game, which is pitting the New York Giants against the New England Patriots.  The Times reported that 30 seconds of ad time during the game is selling for an average $3.5 million. But the NFL  will still devote half of its ad time, 60 second, to its safety spot.

A cynic might question the NFL’s timing and motives.

The league is now facing a dozen lawsuits from ex-players who allege that the NFL hid, or ignored, evidence that repeated concussions can cause permanent brain damage. In fact, The Times quoted a lawyer who is representing some of those players. He believes the TV spot will paint an unrealistic, rosy picture about how the NFL has been addressing player safety for years. 

The ad was directed by a talented TV actor/director, Peter Berg, who was the force behind the high-school football drama “Friday Night Lights,” The Times reported. It will run at the end of the third quarter of the game, and will depict the sports “evolution,” in terms of gear and rules.

The commercial with apparently end with a comment by Ravens player Ray Lewis, who The Times reported will say, “Here’s to making the next century safer and more exciting. Forever forward. Forever football.”

In another interesting tidbit, The Times said that the players’ union and the NFL are talking about devoting much of the $100 million they have for medical research, as part of their contract, to the Foundation of the National Institutes of Health. That money would go toward research on concussions.

The commercial will probably be well produced and memorable, but it won’t make a batch of lawsuits disappear.   

The Battle Between NFL And Ex-Players Over Concussion Suits Begins

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Posted on 28th January 2012 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

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On Thursday the National Football League offered a preview of its defense against 21 lawsuits filed by several hundred retired players in six states: These ex-players can’t seek damages for concussions, since safety issues fall under the collective bargaining agreement they had with the league.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/us-panel-mulls-whether-to-merge-nfl-player-concussion-lawsuits-against-the-football-league/2012/01/26/gIQAxawGSQ_story.html

There were numerous press reports, including one by the Associated Press, on the hearing that took place before the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation in Miami. 

At that proceeding, attorneys for the NFL and the suing ex-players argued that the cases should be consolidated for pretrial matters before Judge Anita Brody of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.  She is located in Philadelphia, where the first players lawsuits over concussions were filed.      

The panel in Miami reserved judgment on consolidating the suits.

At least 300 players, and roughly that equivalent in terms of wives and family members, have charged that the NFL for years knew, and downplayed, the fact that repeated concussions can cause long-term damage to the brain. In retirement, many of these players are getting early-onset dementia, memory loss, depression and degenerative brain disease. 

Among those who are suing are former star players such as Lem Barney, Otis Anderson and Marvin Jones. But there was only one ex-player in court in Miami last week: Rich Miano, who played for the Jets, Eagles and Falcons.

He was quite eloquent in his comments to AP. Talking about concussions when he was playing, back in the day, Miano said they were referred to as “getting a stinger” or ”getting your bell rung.”

He told AP, “It was just, ‘Get back out there.’”

The NFL, like the player plaintiffs’ attorneys, wants the suits put together. But Beth Wilkinson, the league’s lawyer, wants them consolidated so that she can get them dismissed en masse.

She argued Thursday that the retired players’ grievances shouldn’t be litigated, that the allegations raised by the players should be be resolved under the NFL-player collective bargaining agreement. Needless to say, the players feel differently. So do I.

Several of the suits have named the vendor that supplies helmets to the NFL, Riddell, as a defendent, as well. According to The Miami Herald, Riddell’s attorney wants the lawsuits that cite Riddell handled separately from the one that don’t name the helmet company. 

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/01/26/2610282/nfl-ex-jocks-spar-in-miami-courtroom.html

This battle, of the NFL versus its former warriors, may end up rivaling the Super Bowl in terms of drama. And it could be a long one.

 

To Focus On Her TBI Recovery, Giffords Resigns From Congress

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Posted on 22nd January 2012 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

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U.S. Rep. Gabrielle “Gabby” Giffords has made remarkable progress for someone who was shot through the brain a year ago. Just surviving that gunshot wound was a miracle. But as I know from my career in traumatic brain injury, recovery is a long and difficult process.

So, quite frankly, I was saddened but not surprised to hear today that Giffords, an Arizona Democrat, is stepping down from office. Giffords announced that next week she will leave Congress to concentrate on her recovery.  

The Arizona Republic reported Sunday that Giffords announced her resignation in a video on YouTube. She will be attending President Obama’s State of the Union address Tuesday, and then leave office, according to The Republic.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/politics/articles/2012/01/22/20120122gabrielle-giffords-stepping-down-congress.html

Giffords’ speech has been dramatically affected by her brain injury, which was the work of a mad gunman who slaughtered a half dozen people outside a Tuscon supermarket, wounding Giffords in that bloodbath. 

But despite her difficulty speaking as the result of her injuries, Giffords got her message across in her video.    

 ”I have more work to do on my recovery, so to do what is best for Arizona, I will step down this week,” she said.

She also thanked her constituents for their prayers and support.

There will now have to be a special election to replace Giffords in her 8th Congressional District.

President Obama released a statement on Giffords’ resignation Sunday.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/01/22/statement-president-resignation-congresswoman-gabrielle-giffords

“Gabby Giffords embodies the very best of what public service should be.  She’s universally admired for qualities that transcend party or ideology – a dedication to fairness, a willingness to listen to different ideas, and a tireless commitment to the work of perfecting our union.  That’s why the people of Arizona chose Gabby – to speak and fight and stand up for them.  That’s what brought her to a supermarket in Tucson last year – so she could carry their hopes and concerns to Washington. And we know it is with the best interests of her constituents in mind that Gabby has made the tough decision to step down from Congress.

Over the last year, Gabby and her husband Mark have taught us the true meaning of hope in the face of despair, determination in the face of incredible odds, and now – even after she’s come so far – Gabby shows us what it means to be selfless as well.

Gabby’s cheerful presence will be missed in Washington.  But she will remain an inspiration to all whose lives she touched – myself included.  And I’m confident that we haven’t seen the last of this extraordinary American.”

U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-N.J., co-founder and co-chair of the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force, also issued a statement in response to the news that his friend and colleague Giffords had decided to resign from office.

“My heart is a little heavy after hearing of Congresswoman Giffords’ intentions to leave Congress. But it is also filled with the spirit of hope and optimism that she has given to everyone she has ever worked with and served. Congresswoman Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly, have taught us all tremendous lessons in courage in the face of tragedy. They showed tremendous resolve in the midst of great challenges.

Even in the months that followed that horrible day in Tucson, Congresswoman Giffords sought and found opportunities to serve the people of the United States. She worked especially hard in pushing for federal support for every American who sustains a traumatic brain injury.

 I, like so many members of Congress, will never forget the day Congresswoman Giffords returned to the House to vote in support of averting a government default and shutdown.  It is my prayer that Congresswoman Giffords receives the blessings due to her for having given so much to others. I hope that she continues her remarkable progress in her recovery and that she and Mark have many, many fulfilling years together. She will always be a special person to me and a true friend.”

I, too, wish Giffords all the best in her journey of  healing.  

Freestyle Skier Sarah Burke Dies Of Brain Injuries From Training Accident

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Posted on 19th January 2012 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

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Freestyle skier Sarah Burke, 29, Thursday died of brain damage she sustained in an accident nine days ago, when she fell while practicing on the halfpipe in Salt Lake City, according to the Associated Press.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/story/2012-01-19/freestyle-skier-sarah-burke-death/52680120/1

Burke, a Canadian, had her ultimately fatal accident on the same halfpipe where champion snowboarder Kevin Pearce hit his head in a crash. Pearce’s accident happened Dec. 31, 2009, and he sustained life-changing traumatic brain injury.

So did Burke. But she died from her’s. When she fell Jan. 10 at the end of her run, she severed her vertebral artery, and that caused bad bleeding on her brain, according to AP. Burke then went into cardiac arrest and was given CPR right at the scene. She was then hospitalized.

Burke’s publicist issued a statement that said the skier died of “irreversible damage to her brain due to lack of  oxygen and blood after cardiac arrest,” AP reported.

The statement also said, “The family expresses their heartfelt gratitude for the international outpouring of support they have received from all the people Sarah touched.”

The young athlete’s organs will be donated to those who need them.

Burke was a big advocate for so-called “superpipe” skiing, and had convinced the Olympics to add the sport to its program. It is set to debut in the 2014 Games, but Burke obviously won’t be there to compete.”   

Extreme sports and the halfpipe, which is 22 feet high, go hand in hand. And it seems like TBI is part of that equation now, too.    

First Pearce, Now Burke, Fall Victim Of Brain Injury On The Half-Pipe

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Posted on 13th January 2012 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

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Park City, Utah, has again become the scene of tragedy involving traumatic brain injury (TBI) and young athletes.

As The New York Times pointed out Thursday, roughly two years ago champion snowboarder Kevin Pearce sustained TBI in an accident in Park City. And on Tuesday, Canadian freestyle skier Sarah Burke fell and hit her head a 22-foot halfpipe in Park City,  the same place where Pearce had his accident, according to The Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/12/sports/canadian-freestyle-skier-sarah-burke-sustains-head-injury-in-halfpipe-fall.html?scp=1&sq=sarah%20burke&st=cse

Burke fell during a landing, where she apparently “bounced” from her feet to her head, sustaining serious injuries, according to Reuters.

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2012/01/12/sports/sports-us-skier-burke-injury.html?_r=1&ref=sports

After the accident 29-year-old Burke was transported by air ambulance to University of  Utah hospital in Salt Lake City. The skier, considered a shoo-in to win an Olympic Gold medal when the freestyle half-pipe premieres at the 2014 Games, had surgery to “repair a tear in her vertebral artery that resuled in an intracranial hemorrhage,” according to Reuters. She is in critical condition.

The head of neurology at the hospital, Dr. William Couldwell, released a written statement.

“With injuries of this type, we need to observe  the course of her brain function before making any definitive pronouncements about Sarah’s prognosis for recovery,” he said.

Things have not worked out so well for Pearce, according to The Times, since his Dec. 31, 2009 accident. He was in a coma, and then in hospitals for four months. He is still in rehab for his balance and memory.

Last month Pearce returned to his snowboard for a ride, the first time he’s tried that since his accident.

But according to The Times, at the ripe old age of 24 now, Pearce “has no plans to compete again.”    

Will The NFL, And Football, Survive Pending Concussion Lawsuits?

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Posted on 3rd January 2012 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

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We recently wrote about a number of  concussion lawsuits that were filed in the past two months or so by ex-players against the National Football League. Well, last Friday The New York Times did a big Page One round-up story on all the litigation of this kind pending against the NFL. Apparently, more than a dozen suits have been filed against the league since July.   

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/30/sports/football/nfl-faces-retired-players-in-a-high-stakes-legal-battle.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=concussion%20suits&st=cse

The Times put the whole mess in perspective in the story’s headline: “For NFL, Concussion Suits May Be Test For Sport Itself.” 

The litigation represents more than 120 retired players and their spouses. And as The Times frames it, the NFL now faces the prospect of having these players taking the witness stand to tell juries about the league’s past practice regarding head injuries, and to talk about the cognitive issues they are now blaming on their past concussions. 

The lawsuits in many cases charge that the NFL concealed, or ignored, data about the long-term impact of repeated hits to the head.

As reporter Ken Belson wrote, “Taken together, the suits filed in courts across the country amount to a multifront legal challenge to the league and to the game itself.”

As he notes, sympathetic juries, listening to the testimony of retired players such as Jim McMahon and Jamal Lewis, could come in with verdicts awarding millions of dollars to these retired athletes.

As The Times points out, retired gridiron stars who were once in their physical and mental prime, yet are now suffering from early-onset  dementia and brain disease, are bound to illicit feelings from jurors. And we’d guess that the feelings would not be about how great a job the NFL did to protect its gladiators.

Needless to say, such trials would no doubt result in a flood of bad publicity for the NFL, and its years of denial, denial that repeated concussions take a long-term toll on the brain.

But The Times notes that the players may not have a cake walk. One federal judge has already ruled that concussion claims raised by retired players are matters for collective bargaining, not trial. 

The NFL, which of course denies the charges raised in the pending lawsuits, will undoubtedly try to get the litigation dismissed. And even if the cases go to trial, the burden will be on the players to prove that their dementia or memory loss or anger-management issues were the direct result of injuries they sustained during their pro careers.

Those are just some of the legal issues raised in article by The Times. We recommend you read the whole story to find out more about the intricacies of these lawsuits.    

Ex-Green Bay Packer Lew Carpenter’s Brain Showed Disease

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Posted on 21st December 2011 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

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Add former Green Bay Packer Lew Carpenter to the growing list of  pro football players who had degenerative brain disease. And his case adds a disturbing new twist to ongoing medical research. 

Earlier this month the Associated Press reported that Carpenter, who never sustained any known concussions during his NFL career in the 1950s and 1960s, had an advanced form or chronic traumatic encephelopathy (CTE).  Studies of the brains of other deceased pro athletes, football and hockey players, have found the same disease.

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011111208086

Carpenter, who also played for the Detroit Lions and Cleveland Browns, died a year ago at age 78. But his family agreed to donate his brain to science, as part of research into whether athletes are suffering in abnormal numbers from CTE, which doctors have linked to repeated brain trauma.

Carpenter showed many of the symptoms of CTE before he died. He was having memory problems, and could not control his anger, according to AP.  The examination of his brain didn’t show evidence of Alzheimer’s disease, just the CTE, the wire service reported. 

The lesson to be learned from Carpenter’s case is that an athlete doesn’t have to sustain a full-blown concussion, or concussions, in order to develop CTE. The cumulative effect of mini-concussions, so-called subconcussions, can apparently bring on CTE, as well.

“The amount of subconcussive trauma that he had — he probably had between 1,000 and 1,500 subconcussive blows a year, just from practice and play in games,” likely lead to CTE, Dr. Robert Cantu told AP.

Cantu, a researcher at Boston University, is doing work along with the Veterans Administration Center for the Study of Traumaic Encephalopathy, AP reported.

It’s true that Carpenter –  who finished his career with the Packers, winning two NFL championships — was never diagnosed with a concussion. But back in the day, when he was playing, concussions were not the issue they are today. He may have had some that were missed.

If in fact Carpenter never had a full-blown concussion, his case raises a troubling issue.

“Damage may be caused as much or more by the low-level, or subconcussive, blows to the head as by big hits replayed on the highlgiht shows that leave a player wobbly,” AP wrote.  

Soccer Players Who Frequently ‘Head’ Ball Sustain Mild Brain Injury

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Posted on 4th December 2011 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

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Football and ice hockey aren’t the only sports that are causing long-term brain damage in athletes. Soccer is, too.

That was the finding of a study done Dr. Michael Lipton of New York City’s Montefiore Medical Center, a researcher who presented the results of his work to the Radiological Society of North America late last month.

BBC News reported on Lipton’s comments, which included, “Heading a soccer ball is not an impact of magnitude that will lacerate nerve fibers in the brain. But repetitive heading could set off  a cascade of responses that can lead to degeneration of brain cells.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-15917035

In his test Lipton did brain scans on 32 amateur soccer players who frequently “headed” the ball. The bottom line was that there was no damage to the brains of players who hit the ball with their heads 1,000 times or less a year. But when there were more head hits than that, Lipton found “patterns of damage similar to that seen in patients with concussions,” BBC News reported.

To non-soccer players, hitting a ball with your head 1,000 times a year may appear to be a big number, but “it amounts to a few times a day for a regular player, say the researchers,” BBC News reported.

Obviously, Lipton’s study didn’t involve a large sample of players, and some are saying that much more research must be done to confirm his findings.

But anecdotally, there is at least one death that’s been blamed on “heading.” British soccer player Jeff Astle died in 2002, at age 59, after having cognitive issues. ”The coroner ruled that his death resulted from a degenerative brain disease caused by heading heavy leather footballs,” BBC News  reported. 

Soccer balls are not as heavy now as they were back in the day when Astle was playing, but they can move at speeds ranging from roughly 30 mph to 60 mph an hour.

In Lipton’s research, he used diffusion tensor imaging, which shows brain tissues and nerves. The test volunteers told researchers how many times they had headed the ball, and those who had done it often showed mild traumatic brain injuries in their scans, according to BBC News.

Lipton’s scans found that several areas of the brain were injured by repeated heading, including the front of the organ and the back of it near the skull. These parts of the mind govern ”attention, memory, executive functioning and higher-order visual functions,” BBC News reported.

The test volunteers who frequently headed the ball also didn’t perform as well on tests that measure verbal memory and reaction times.     

There are skeptics about Lipton’s findings. One claims the soccer players are suffering mild brain injury because they are slamming their heads with other players when they head the ball, not from heading the ball per se.

No matter how you slice it, soccer players are suffering brain injuries, and measures should be taken to protect them.

Ex-Hockey Linesman Pat Dapuzzo Struggles With His Demons After Concussions

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Posted on 29th November 2011 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

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Hockey star Keith Primeau drives a hard bargain.

When former National Hockey League linesman Pat Dapuzzo wanted Primeau to appear at a charity event, Primeau said he would do it on one condition, according to The New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/28/sports/hockey/for-ex-nhl-linesman-dapuzzo-recovery-doesnt-stop-when-injuries-heal.html?_r=1&ref=hockey

Primeau wanted Dapuzzo to do what he had done: agree to donate his brain and spinal cord to the Boston University Center for the Study of of Traumatic Encephalopathy.  That is the center that is studying the brains of deceased football players and other athletes to see if they had developed that brain disease, which has been linked to repetitive head injuries. 

Primeau and Dapuzzo share a bond that many pro hockey players and pro football players share, namely that their careers were cut short by the many concussions they suffered because of those sports, according to The Times.

Dapuzzo’s story was more gruesome than most. On Feb. 9, 2008 Dapuzzo was hit in the face by a skate blade, and it literally cut his nose off. Physicians sewed it back on, but it wasn’t the only injury that he received. He had a concussion, multiple bone fractures to his face, and bone fragments in his ears that caused bad earaches, according to The Times.

But perhaps worse of all, Dapuzzo fell into clinical depression, depression so bad that he sometimes wouldn’t open the door when his hockey friends came by. According to The Times, Dapuzzo had suffered from depression previously, in the 1990s. Then he got some insight into what might have caused it.

After the horrible injuries he sustained in 2008, Dapuzzo underwent a battery of neurological tests, and learned that he had sustained other concussions. In one instance, Dapuzzo recalled that he was hit in a collision, vomited in the penalty box and played the rest of the game, even though “the Meadowlands Arena was spinning around” him, The Times reported.

In the mid-1990s, Dapuzzo missed an entire season while he got treatment for depression.

A New Jersey resident, Dapuzzo is still dealing with bouts of depression. But he was recently hired as a scout for the Toronto Maple Leafs, which was the hook for The Times’s story on him. And he says he is thankful to have that chance to work again.      

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