Dr. No Can’t Read!
All we can say is, WOW! The New York Times just published a powerful piece by Deborah Blum yesterday that puts a final nail in the NFL’s Dr. No’s arguments about concussions. This piece says it all.
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Here’s a clip from the article:
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NY Times - Grady McFerrin
I’d argue that Dr. Casson — and his former friends at the N.F.L. — could have saved themselves and the players a lot of trouble if they’d spent just a little time in the medical archives. That 1928 medical journal paper started a drumbeat of research into head injuries in athletes, continuing throughout the 20th century and intensifying in the last decade. The 82-year-old study, by Dr. Harrison Martland, remains frequently cited by researchers today, partly for its meticulous examination of damaged brains.
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Read the rest of this article – click HERE.
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Dave Pear
February 5th, 2010 at 12:09 pm #
When a crime has been committed, one of the first questions asked is, “What do you know and when did you know it?”
Both in common law and in civil law, a rebuttable presumption (in Latin, praesumptio iuris tantum) is an assumption made by a court, one that is taken to be true unless someone comes forward to contest it and prove otherwise. A rebuttable presumption is often associated with prima facie evidence. (Latin expression meaning on its first appearance or by first instance, at first sight)
For 82 years the medical community has known that repeated blows to the head cause brain damage.
Quack doctors like the NFL’s Dr. NO Ira Casson, the Groom Law Group, etc. are just as guilty as the NFL for perpetuating this cover up.
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and they all hang out in the same pond, then they’re ducks! And all these ducks are guilty by association.
The question retired players continue to ask is, “When is the NFL going to start paying their past due compensation to retired players and their families?”
The only real issues facing retired players continue to be:
1. Pension/Disability reform
2. Medical after football
Firing the Groom Law Group is a symbolic move for change but when will the real change occur?
Retired players and their families continue to live with this harsh and brutal treatment (AFTER football) by the league that has left so many of us in a lurch!
Sincerely,
Dave & Heidi Pear
George Visger
February 9th, 2010 at 1:07 am #
When I read about these studies regarding long term cognitive impacts due to repeated head trauma which were first presented 82 YEARS AGO and I think back on the suffering my family has faced due to my own 9 brain surgeries since the ’81 season, I can’t help but think there is a LIABILITY issue at stake. Considering Dr. NO Casson, who consistently perjured himself during the first Congressional Hearing on head injuries (and just prior to him and his other RAT cronies scurrying down their holes before the next hearing), I would think someone such as Dr. No, the head injury EXPERT hired and supported for years by the NFL, would be liable for the recurring problems (including SUICIDES) which so many ex-players such as myself face on a daily basis. I would also think the leadership of the NFL would – and should – be equally culpable (such as Goodell).
I loved playing the game and it was a goal of mine from the time I was 11 years old playing on the first Pee Wee Pop Warner team Stockton, CA ever fielded in 1970. All I ever expected from my teams was what I gave: 100% and nothing less. I was thrown to the wolves (as many of us were) by the 49′ers when I had brain surgeries #2 and #3 ten hours apart (and given last rites), just 4 months after we won Super Bowl XVI. After having to fight the creditors off for 5 years, I successfully sued the 49′ers and won a judgment for Workers Comp in 1986.
I would be very interested to know how many of our brothers are facing the same short term memory problems, anger management and poor judgment issues, dyslexia (mine was brought on by numerous brain surgeries), grand mal seizures and the related problems due to anti-seizure meds (I have been on them for 25 years and just switched to my 6th medication due to horrible side effects), that I have faced all these years. I know damn good and well I can’t be the only one facing these issues.
When we played, we played as a team, and it’s about time we regrouped and acted like a team. These dirt bags have used us to benefit themselves financially (by the tune of $1M/month for Roger Dodger Goodell, paid for by the owners), at the expense of our health, our families’ well-being AND some of our lives (Mike Webster, Andre Waters, Justin Stryszinski to name a few).
I would love to personally speak to Dr. No and Goodell about who is responsible and who could have prevented so many unnecessary deaths. I say it’s about time for a class action suit. The tobacco industry fought it off for years while hundreds of thousands (or more) died. Let’s not wait that long for our turn.
My 10-year old son, Jack, recently approached me about playing Pop Warner. As much as I loved the game, I had been telling him for a while that he should wait ’til he got into High School to start playing. Then in October, we returned from my 3-day evaluation at Dr. Amen’s clinic where I also took my wife, Kristi, and son, Jack, so they could tell the Doctors what it’s like to live with me. Dr. Amen’s report stated, “George WILL have dementia in the next 10 years without immediate intervention and I would rate him as 80% disabled.” I sat Jack down and told him that playing football is not worth the price that your father paid. It’s not worth the Orange Bowl ring and it’s not worth the Super Bowl ring.
I have no problems being injured from playing; we all knew it was part of the game. What I DO have a problem with are the lying slimeball team Doctors such as Dr. Fred Behling with the 49′ers – who was successfully sued by 4 of my ’81 teammates – and the even slimier Dr. NO. To see him with his little smirk on his face repeatedly answering NO to every question related to head trauma made my blood boil. I know I can’t be the only one who is ready to take these criminals to task and knock the hell out of them. Can you imagine the strength we’d have if we all came together? These dirtbags have never strapped it on and have never seen men taping parts back together and shooting up so as not to let their teammates down.
I say we turn this thing around and start kicking their asses; we’ve been beaten up way too long. And now the owners are whining about how much they’ve invested? You have got to be kidding me! What about our investments which shorten our life expectancy?
I would love to hear from brothers who might be facing the same head injury issues I have had these last 28 years.
I say, “Let’s kick their asses.”
George Visger
SF 49′ers 1980 & 1981
Brain damaged, anger management issues, but fully in charge of my faculties (at least for now)