This week, the Post published an investigation into the 2015 NFL concussion contract, discovering the disturbing reality behind the $1.2 billion the league awarded to more than 1,600 applicants. While the NFL touts the amount as proof that it’s a fair deal, the only thing it shows for sure is the extent of the damage to the athlete’s brain. The Post reported that the NFL saved hundreds of millions of dollars more by denying money and medical care to people with dementia and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) who sought relief.
The issue begins with the settlement’s definition of dementia, which is stricter than the standard medical definition in the United States. Patients can usually be diagnosed by showing significant impairment in a single area, such as memory, language, or executive function. Those seeking NFL settlements will need to prove impairment in two areas to receive compensation. NFL lawyers say the test is more objective and characterize it as necessary in the context of the “compensation for diagnosis” program, which the settlement would avoid costing the NFL significant money. It seems like a fancy way of saying it was planned.
The strategy works. Defensive back Irv Cross, who made history as the pioneering black broadcast analyst on CBS’s “The NFL Today,” was unable to speak coherently, forgot to change his clothes and experienced urinary incontinence. However, his cognitive function test scores were low enough to meet the settlement conditions. Defensive lineman Ed Rothermer was no different, often getting lost just driving around town. It turned out that his learning and memory were severely impaired, but that was just one area and not enough for colonization.
More obstacles stand in the way of the former players. Applicants for relief must also be certified as sufficiently disabled according to the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) scale. Therefore, to prove that you have even “mild dementia,” you must give up your hobbies and interests. Difficulty functioning independently at social events. And forget about hygiene. This is a high bar, which is probably why CDR is used as a research tool rather than a diagnostic tool. One neurologist, who was part of a physician network established by the NFL to evaluate and treat patients, called the scale “junk science.”
Some of this doctor’s and other doctors’ diagnoses were overturned by the administrative law firm overseeing the settlement because the patient’s symptoms were not severe enough under CDR’s scale. The reviewers said patients can still drive and work. Former offensive tackle Glenn Ray Hines Sr. could drive a car or walk on a treadmill, but he couldn’t manage finances. And his wife had to explain TV programs and newspaper articles to him. His doctor had been treating him for dementia for many years. But returning doctors said his chances were ruled out because of his driving and exercise. He died in a nursing home. His autopsy revealed that he had severe CTE. At least 12 more players have suffered the same fate and received the same post-mortem diagnosis.
To add insult to injury with TBI, even if an athlete’s symptoms meet all the definitions of dementia, their fight is often not over. During settlement negotiations, the NFL argued that it was protecting players with multiple health issues by abandoning arguments about “causation.” However, this only means that players do not have to prove that their football career caused their dementia; It turns out there isn’t. dementiarather than something else What caused them Decline in cognitive function. Doctors in the settlement denied the claims, attributing the former athlete’s problems to sleep apnea, depression, alcohol abuse, bipolar disorder and even a vitamin B12 deficiency. Sometimes it didn’t matter that those athletes’ own doctors ruled out these other causes.
Its stinginess, once summarized, is astonishing. The NFL settlement has approved nearly 900 dementia claims in the seven years since its inception. Nearly 1,100 cases have been denied. About 300 of those cases involved players diagnosed by the same physician network the league established to evaluate and treat players. The NFL claims many of these denials are due to misconduct. More than 70 investigations reviewed by the newspaper found no such evidence. The total amount of denied claims could exceed $700 million.
The NFL appears to have set up a process for former players that is harder to navigate than the football field right after the snap. The settlement agreement, on the other hand, was quite the opposite, showing great responsibility while accepting far less, he argued. After The Post began discussing the report, the NFL and its top lawyer called for a change in the company that manages the league’s physician network. That’s the beginning. Although the league says the changes are unrelated to the Post article, the facts suggest the NFL is more concerned with protecting its image than protecting its players. The public should not allow the league to succeed in the former until it starts to really care about the latter.