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Thread: Dermontti Dawson & Bubby Brister among latest to join concussion lawsuits against NFL

  1. #21
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    One of ours:

    [url]http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=1972285[/url]


    Game Brain
    Let’s say you run a multibillion-dollar football league. And let’s say the scientific community—starting with one young pathologist in Pittsburgh and growing into a chorus of neuroscientists across the country—comes to you and says concussions are making your players crazy, crazy enough to kill themselves, and here, in these slices of brain tissue, is the proof. Do you join these scientists and try to solve the problem, or do you use your power to discredit them?


    Read More [url]http://www.gq.com/sports/profiles/200909/nfl-players-brain-dementia-study-memory-concussions#ixzz20Y9Bhpmh[/url]
    Last edited by Vis; 07-13-2012 at 07:51 PM.

  2. #22
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    For decades the medical community knew that repeated blows to the head caused long term brain damage in boxers.
    In 1994 after a string of incidents, the NFL decided to research MTBI and its effects.* Strangely, Commissioner Tagliabue named a rheumatologist (Dr. Pellman), not a neurologist, to run the study.* Dr. Pellman admitted that prior to the study most team physicians relied on “on-field anecdotes” to treat concussions and the purpose of the study was to provide facts and direction for team physicians.
    Strangely, the results of the NFL’s research contradicted commonplace concussion management protocols and other research being conducted by neurologists across the country.* The NFL’s published findings stated that concussions “were not serious injuries” and doctors should use their discretion rather than follow an “arbitrary, rigid” concussion management system.* This shocked many in the medical community and contradicted NCAA studies and practices.
    Beginning in 2002, autopsies of former players’ brains showed an unusual build up of dangerous proteins believed to be the result of repeated concussions and sub-concussive events. * The condition, named CTE, is marked by memory loss, insomnia, speech difficulties, impulse control and depression.* Researchers notified the NFL and published their findings.
    In 2007, the NFL published its own brochures for players that stated that research “has not shown that having more than one or two concussions leads to permanent problems if each injury is managed properly.”* The brochure did not mention the research on CTE and NFL sponsored researchers continued to dispute that concussions caused brain damage in dead players.
    In 2009, Congress held hearings on the NFL’s management of concussions. The fact that the NFL funded its own research that stood in such contrast to what mainstream medicine understood about MTBI/concussions led Congress to compare the NFL’s actions to the tobacco industry of the 1990s.
    In July 2010, less than one year after denying that concussions can lead to permanent damage, the NFL dramatically changed course.* They put up posters in locker rooms that cautioned its players that multiple concussions could cause permanent brain damage, memory loss, personality changes, depression and dementia. Concussions, the posters said, “can change your life and your family’s life forever.”
    As more information comes to light, over 2,000 players have filed suit.*

  3. #23
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    Study of Retired NFL Players Finds Evidence of Brain Damage

    Last Updated: June 29, 2012.
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    In tests, they had higher rates of depression, memory deficits and 'white matter' damage

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    In tests, they had higher rates of depression, memory deficits and 'white matter' damage.
    By Maureen Salamon
    HealthDay Reporter

    FRIDAY, June 29 (HealthDay News) -- Tests performed on a group of retired NFL players revealed that more than 40 percent suffered from problems such as depression and dementia, adding to a growing pile of evidence that repeated sports-related head traumas can lead to lasting neurological issues.

    Analyzing 34 ex-professional football players (average age 62) on benchmarks such as memory, reasoning, problem-solving and behavior, researchers from the Center for Brain Health at the University of Texas at Dallas found that 20 tested normal while the rest suffered from depression, various deficits in memory/thinking or a combination of these issues. Twenty-six of the players also underwent MRI scans.

    "We picked up that many guys were depressed but didn't know it," added study author Dr. John Hart, medical science director at the center. "The cognitive impairments . . . were more than what's expected for their ages. A lot had damage to their brain's white matter, so for us it's a real clue or marker to look for."

    Hart is scheduled to present the findings Friday at the National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA) annual meeting in St. Louis. Research presented at scientific meetings should be considered preliminary until it is published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.

    An estimated 300,000 sports-related concussions occur in the United States each year, and mounting attention is being paid to the neurological toll of those injuries on former professional athletes. In June, a massive bundle of lawsuits representing more than 2,100 National Football League players was filed against the league, claiming that the NFL hid information linking football-related head injuries to permanent brain damage.

    Hart's study involved ex-NFL athletes hailing from the North Texas region. For comparison purposes, the researchers also looked at the brains of 26 people with no signs of mental deficits, selected from the general population and matched for age, education and IQ.

    Of the eight former players who were found to have depression -- the finding that most surprised Hart -- most didn't exhibit the mood issues such as sadness that are typically associated with the condition, he said.

    Instead, "there was a lack of energy, initiative or sex drive and disrupted sleep, with weight gain or loss," Hart said. "They would ruminate or get anxious about stuff, but they weren't crying. They were shocked or surprised [at the finding], because they didn't think they had symptoms at all."

    The results highlight the need to actively inquire about depressive symptoms among those who have suffered concussions, Hart said. Additionally, it's important to "let the brain rest and heal" following concussions instead of charging back onto the field -- which opens players to a phenomenon known as "second-impact syndrome." The brain can swell catastrophically when a second concussion occurs before symptoms of the first have abated.

    Promoting a healthier approach to concussion recovery will take the cooperation of players, coaches, parents and even teachers at the high school or college level, who need to understand that even the mental exertion required in the classroom can be detrimental to getting better, added Paul J. Krawietz, director of the athletic training education program in the department of kinesiology at the University of Texas at Arlington.

    "The testing and note-taking can exacerbate symptoms or make them worse if a student comes back too soon," Krawietz said. "People know symptoms can be made worse by physical exertion, but often they don't think about the cognitive component, that thinking can make things worse."

  4. #24
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    "Many guys were depressed but didn't know it."

    "There was a lack of energy, initiative or sex drive and disrupted sleep, with weight gain or loss."

    "They didn't think they had symptoms at all."

    Guess what...even people who don't have repeated blows to the head tend to experience less energy, decreased sex drive, disrupted sleep, and weight gain as they get older. Does that mean we are all becoming more and more depressed...but just don't know it yet until a doctor tells us so?

    And I don't get how every suicide from an NFL player is automatically assumed to be due to traumatic encephalopathy. What else might be at fault here instead of just filing it under "brain damage" without giving it a second thought?

    Maybe it's because they were making money hand-over-fist for a short amount of time, and many players blew most if not all of it in a similarly short amount of time (which can have a damaging impact on one's relationships, most prominently their marriages).

    Their high-self worth as a star football player since high school is suddenly taken away from them when they step off the field for the last time...when you have been identified as a football "hero" for so long, it's a difficult pill to swallow when the idol worship suddenly ceases, so former players may start to doubt their self-worth moving forward.

    As a football player, your schedule is regimented from the time you first put on the cleats...coaches tell you when to practice, when to study, when to eat, and when to sleep...when football is over, many guys are unable to handle the most basic of responsibilities of average everyday life.

    And when they have always been part of a team, experiencing the camaraderie of the locker room every day, when they no longer are "one of the guys" anymore...maybe these guys are just simply LONELY.

    Brain injuries likely lead to the downfall of certain guys (like, say Mike Webster or Andre Waters), but we cannot simply assume that concussions are the reason for every NFL player suicide.
    Steeler teams featuring stat-driven, me-first, fantasy-football-darling diva types such as Antonio Brown & Le'Veon Bell won no championships.

    Super Bowl winning Steeler teams were built around a dynamic, in-your-face defense plus blue-collar, hard-hitting, no-nonsense football players on offense such as Hines Ward & Jerome Bettis.

    We don't want Juju & Conner to replace what we lost in Brown & Bell.

    We are counting on Juju & Conner to return us to the glory we once had with Hines & The Bus.

  5. #25
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    Quote Originally Posted by RuthlessBurgher View Post
    "Many guys were depressed but didn't know it."

    "There was a lack of energy, initiative or sex drive and disrupted sleep, with weight gain or loss."

    "They didn't think they had symptoms at all."

    Guess what...even people who don't have repeated blows to the head tend to experience less energy, decreased sex drive, disrupted sleep, and weight gain as they get older. Does that mean we are all becoming more and more depressed...but just don't know it yet until a doctor tells us so?

    And I don't get how every suicide from an NFL player is automatically assumed to be due to traumatic encephalopathy. What else might be at fault here instead of just filing it under "brain damage" without giving it a second thought?

    Maybe it's because they were making money hand-over-fist for a short amount of time, and many players blew most if not all of it in a similarly short amount of time (which can have a damaging impact on one's relationships, most prominently their marriages).

    Their high-self worth as a star football player since high school is suddenly taken away from them when they step off the field for the last time...when you have been identified as a football "hero" for so long, it's a difficult pill to swallow when the idol worship suddenly ceases, so former players may start to doubt their self-worth moving forward.

    As a football player, your schedule is regimented from the time you first put on the cleats...coaches tell you when to practice, when to study, when to eat, and when to sleep...when football is over, many guys are unable to handle the most basic of responsibilities of average everyday life.

    And when they have always been part of a team, experiencing the camaraderie of the locker room every day, when they no longer are "one of the guys" anymore...maybe these guys are just simply LONELY.

    Brain injuries likely lead to the downfall of certain guys (like, say Mike Webster or Andre Waters), but we cannot simply assume that concussions are the reason for every NFL player suicide.
    Add into that "when did the significant brain injury occur for a player who has been playing since they were 6 years old?" Maybe it really occurred when they were young and their brain was developing. I'm sure you could make a very strong argument that damage to a young forming brain has long term impact. Sue their parents and youth football.

    Maybe it happened when they were getting that free college education playing in college. I bet you could look at a lot of former NFL player's college grades and make a strong case they must have had clear brain damage BEFORE entering the NFL. Sue the colleges and NCAA.

    I just find it amazing that even for the players who played 10-12 years in the exploitive NFL not one ever had an indication of brain injuries that forced them not to accept an NFL paycheck. It just seems that all these problems occur when the NFL checks stop coming.

    The reality is that none of these players know when they had their first concussion or a head injury serious enough to cause any damage. Players are blaming the NFL when in relaity they had played 10-12 years of football before they ever stepped onto an NFL football field. If anything one could argue that the best oversight and medical care they had in their lives was when they were in the NFL. However, the NFL is the cash cow so that is who they are going after.
    Last edited by Oviedo; 07-14-2012 at 08:37 AM.
    "My team, may they always be right, but right or wrong...MY TEAM!"

  6. #26
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    [QUOTE=Vis;515805]They had a right to rely on the team doctor on the sideline didn't they? They aren't gladiators in the arena giving up their future health for your entertainment. They are skilled athletes who deserve truth from team physicians. And if you educate yourself on the suits you would know that not all of the plaintiffs are seeking money for injuries or even claiming injuries. What gravy train are they seeking. I'll wait while you read up on the topic, read the actual suit papers, or whatever else you need to do to be able to speak from a position of knowledge.[/QUOT


    Were you there on every sideline to see if each player received or did not receive medical attention ? Again, what part of it being a physical sport don't you understand or that the players did not understand ? Injuries happen in sports and probably more with the NFL and NHL in my opinion. If a person is too stupid to realize they are the first and most important person to look out for their own health then, I can't dumb it down much more than that. Read all the reports you want and sit on that stack of papers until the cows come home, these players would walk through fire to do it all over again. Having said all that, I do feel bad for anyone that suffers bad health and injuries.

  7. #27
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    Not to make light of what is a serious matter, both for the future of the league and its players, but were any of these players cat-lovers?

    What does being a "cat lady" and committing suicide have in common? The results of a[URL="http://www.examiner.com/topic/denmark"]Denmark[/URL][URL="http://www.examiner.com/topic/study"]study[/URL] on T. gondii (from parasite infection) shows that women who keep feline friends later in life are more likely to kill themselves or make an attempt.
    Monday, the [URL="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/9371006/Cat-ladies-more-likely-to-commit-suicide-scientists-claim.html"]Telegraph [/URL]reported that a group of researchers in Denmark followed 45,000 women over a period of time to see if there was a relationship with T.gondii or Toxoplasma gondii and increased rates of suicide among "cat ladies."
    Surprisingly, the results showed that women who were infected with the parasite were more likely to have mental disorders that could lead to more cases of self-inflicted death. What's more, the largest number of cases involved women who owned cats in their homes.
    T.gondii lives naturally in the environment, and it is believed that at least one-third of the world's population is infected. However, many people live without symptoms. It's the ones that do that are worrying scientists.
    "About one million people commit suicide and another 10 million attempt suicide worldwide each year. We hope that this type of research will one day help us find ways to save many lives that now end prematurely in suicide," said Doctor Albert Reece, vice president of medical affairs at the University of Maryland.
    Researchers believe that "cat ladies" are one-and-a-half more times likely to commit suicide than those who are not cat owners. The rates go up from there especially if they have more infection with T.gondii.
    The parasite hides within the cells of muscles and the brain and is usually passed on to humans from cat litter, as it thrives in their feces. However, it can also be spread from human to human by sharing contaminated cooking utensils, dishes and from failure to wash one's hands.
    Other things may be responsible for the increased number of women trying to kill themselves. Maybe cat ladies have a mental disorder and are likely to turn to cats for companionship. And because the animals usually are carriers of the parasite, the results are distorted. As such, more research is needed before a definite conclusion is drawn. Nonetheless, cat lovers, beware.

  8. #28
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    [QUOTE=fezziwig;515842]
    Quote Originally Posted by Vis View Post
    They had a right to rely on the team doctor on the sideline didn't they? They aren't gladiators in the arena giving up their future health for your entertainment. They are skilled athletes who deserve truth from team physicians. And if you educate yourself on the suits you would know that not all of the plaintiffs are seeking money for injuries or even claiming injuries. What gravy train are they seeking. I'll wait while you read up on the topic, read the actual suit papers, or whatever else you need to do to be able to speak from a position of knowledge.[/QUOT


    Were you there on every sideline to see if each player received or did not receive medical attention ? Again, what part of it being a physical sport don't you understand or that the players did not understand ? Injuries happen in sports and probably more with the NFL and NHL in my opinion. If a person is too stupid to realize they are the first and most important person to look out for their own health then, I can't dumb it down much more than that. Read all the reports you want and sit on that stack of papers until the cows come home, these players would walk through fire to do it all over again. Having said all that, I do feel bad for anyone that suffers bad health and injuries.

    What you are advocating is individual responsibility for your own choices and actions. How do you expect a former NFL player to make any money out of that? The former players look at what current players are making and say "what the heck, I never made that much. The NFL is making more money so I want a piece."

    This is a cash grab, nothing else. Do some of these oplayers have lingering effects. Of course, but truck drivers have back injuries, ditch diggers have back injuries, nurses have varicose veins from being on their feet, accountants have ulcers and hypertension, etc, etc. The difference is they don't expect to live an upper middle class life style the rest of their lives without working again in a lower paying, blue collar profession.
    "My team, may they always be right, but right or wrong...MY TEAM!"

  9. #29
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    Quote Originally Posted by Oviedo View Post
    This is a cash grab, nothing else.
    It would be one thing of the players were suing for a multi-billion dollar cash settlement...but that does not appear to be the case here. How is it a "cash grab" if Vis already reported that "The suit seeks to make the league handle medical monitoring and treatment for its retirees."
    Steeler teams featuring stat-driven, me-first, fantasy-football-darling diva types such as Antonio Brown & Le'Veon Bell won no championships.

    Super Bowl winning Steeler teams were built around a dynamic, in-your-face defense plus blue-collar, hard-hitting, no-nonsense football players on offense such as Hines Ward & Jerome Bettis.

    We don't want Juju & Conner to replace what we lost in Brown & Bell.

    We are counting on Juju & Conner to return us to the glory we once had with Hines & The Bus.

  10. #30
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    Quote Originally Posted by RuthlessBurgher View Post
    It would be one thing of the players were suing for a multi-billion dollar cash settlement...but that does not appear to be the case here. How is it a "cash grab" if Vis already reported that "The suit seeks to make the league handle medical monitoring and treatment for its retirees."

    If all it ever turns out to be is health care like veterans get through the VA then I will gladly admit I'm wrong, but the cynic in me believes we will see a claim for "pain and suffering" that will result in money changing hands.
    "My team, may they always be right, but right or wrong...MY TEAM!"

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