Commentary: When will deaths of NFL players stop?

[Edman]

Originally Posted by DG94

Yes, that's a fact of life. They don't shoot themselves with a shotgun though.

If that were the case, then "when will NFL Suicides stop" is a better question.

[Atlanta Dan]

Originally Posted by DG94

Yes, that's a fact of life. They don't shoot themselves with a shotgun though.

The causal link between CTE and repeated blows to the head sustained from playing football is pretty clear

The causal link between CTE and suicide? Perhaps not as clear as the recent media storm might lead one to believe.

News outlets (including this one) have suddenly became aware of some surprising and important CDC research published in January in the American Journal of Cardiology. At the request of the NFL Players Association, government scientists compared the death rates for almost 3,500 of the league's retirees to those for age- and race-matched non-athletes over the same years. The football players had much longer lives: Just 334 of them had passed away, compared with an expected total of 625....

And among the athletes who regularly played professional football between 1959 and 1988, a total of nine perished as a result of "intentional self-harm," compared with an expected number of about 22. The sample size was small, but the effect is large: Ex-NFLers were 59 percent less likely to commit suicide....

As for Junior Seau, the theory that concussions—a few big ones, 1,500 tiny ones, whatever—led to his death is not merely speculative; it's willfully ignorant. Seau was beset with a smorgasbord of risk factors for suicide, regardless of the state of his brain. He spent part of his childhood sleeping on the concrete floor of the family garage and was beaten vigorously with a wooden paddle. Seau's parents were immigrants from Samoa, where suicide rates are among the highest in the world. He had relationship problems—he'd suffered through a divorce, then got arrested for domestic abuse in 2010. As a hard-hitting linebacker, one could argue that he had a history of aggressive behavior. Like many football players, perhaps, he had access to a gun....

It wasn't so long ago that we blamed athletes' unexpected deaths on performance-enhancing drugs, not head trauma. When pro wrestler Chris "the Canadian Crippler" Benoit killed his wife and son and then hanged himself in 2007, authorities blamed the incident on anabolic steroids. In 2005, Congress heard testimony from the parents of young athletes who had committed suicide while experiencing the putative effects of steroid withdrawal, and researchers trotted out anecdotal reports to prove the link.

If Junior Seau had killed himself when George W. Bush was still in office, we'd all be talking about the cream and the clear, not CTE. But you don't hear much talk about steroids and suicide today. Is it passé to observe that around 9 percent of NFL retirees admit to having used steroids during their career?...

Former players kill themselves for the same reason as everyone else—because they're sad and alone and deprived of the psychiatric care that could maybe save their lives.

http://www.slate.com/articles/health...ponsible_.html

Not saying i agree with this argument - just saying any former NFL player who thinks the NFL is going to assume the fetal position and just ask how big a settlement check former NFL players want to receive better get prepared to have their personal life sliced and diced during civil discovery.

[Vis]

The link between a lowered quality of life and CTE is established. They don't all have to kill themselves for the issue to be discussed, do they?

And the beauty of brain cases is, poor choices by the plaintiff work against the defense. Unless your suggesting using the threat of embarrassing disclosure to chill the pursuit of the claims.

[Atlanta Dan]

Originally Posted by Vis

The link between a lowered quality of life and CTE is established. They don't all have to kill themselves for the issue to be discussed, do they?

And the beauty of brain cases is, poor choices by the plaintiff work against the defense. Unless your suggesting using the threat of embarrassing disclosure to chill the pursuit of the claims.

As you know, a history of being abused as a child or drug abuse isn't just an "embarassing disclosure" - it is an alternative proximate cause argument for the player taking his life that can blow up the plaintiff's burden of proving the employment related blows to the head caused the suicide

Litigation is not a game of bean bag - it's hardball

[Vis]

Originally Posted by Atlanta Dan

As you know, a history of being abused as a child or drug abuse isn't just an "embarassing disclosure" - it is an alternative proximate cause argument for the player taking his life that can blow up the plaintiff's burden of proving the employment related blows to the head caused the suicide

Litigation is not a game of bean bag - it's hardball

If the other theory predates the concussions, the defense expert would need to show behaviors existing prior as well. If the other theory is substance abuse, etc.. after the concussions, no neuro-psychologist can get away with a failure to acknowledge the frequency of people with TBIs self medicating as a result. The same is true for isolation or failed relationships. I've got the learned treatises on my credenza.

[Atlanta Dan]

Originally Posted by Vis

If the other theory predates the concussions, the defense expert would need to show behaviors existing prior as well. If the other theory is substance abuse, etc.. after the concussions, no neuro-psychologist can get away with a failure to acknowledge the frequency of people with TBIs self medicating as a result. The same is true for isolation or failed relationships. I've got the learned treatises on my credenza.

No doubt plaintiff's (and defendant's) attorneys can usually find experts with enough "science" in their paid opinions to get past the Daubert motion to exclude their testimony - all I am saying is that winning a lawsuit is not as easy as writing a sports column that attributes a suicide to the callous and uncaring nature of a sport without any knowledge of the deceased's medical condition

[Vis]

Originally Posted by Atlanta Dan

No doubt plaintiff's (and defendant's) attorneys can usually find experts with enough "science" in their paid opinions to get past the Daubert motion to exclude their testimony - all I am saying is that winning a lawsuit is not as easy as writing a sports column that attributes a suicide to the callous and uncaring nature of a sport without any knowledge of the deceased's medical condition

I'm trying a brain injury case in Oconee county in 4 weeks. Come watch.

Another in fed ct in august if it doesn't settle at mediation.

[Atlanta Dan]

Originally Posted by Vis

I'm trying a brain injury case in Oconee county in 4 weeks. Come watch.

Another in fed ct in august if it doesn't settle at mediation.

No thanks

Have my own cases to handle

I do not hear you disagreeing with my contention that just because you keep your expert testimony from being struck and get your case to the jury that alone means the defendant is liable

[Vis]

Originally Posted by Atlanta Dan

No thanks

Have my own cases to handle

I do not hear you disagreeing with my contention that just because you keep your expert testimony from being struck and get your case to the jury that alone means the defendant is liable

you're kidding

Neuropsychology is too well established for challenge. It's dueling experts on the interpretation of the data.

And you don't pursue these cases if liability is a question unless damages are huge.

In the NFL case, do you think they will challenge causation again? That would be a PR nightmare and undermine the changes Goodell is trying to implement. the issue will be the terms of the class action settlement which will be more about the equitable remedies than specific damages. The cost will be in the continuing medical care they will finally agree to provide.

[4xSBChamps]