Minus Alan Schwarz, New York Times Football Concussion Coverage Has Evolved From ‘Flawed’ to ‘Missing in Action’
October 12, 2011‘Political Football: Centers for Disease Control in NFL’s Pocket, Too, on Concussion Issue’ … today at Beyond Chron
October 14, 2011
I keep hammering that the ImPACT “concussion management software” – developed by National Football League neurosurgeon-apologist Joseph Maroon and his conflicted, money-above-health team at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center – is worse than useless for high school football programs. That’s because it’s also expensive, misleading, and a veritable road map to the string of lawsuits that will bring down prep football.
Don’t believe me? Look at the case in New Jersey of Ryne Dougherty, the kid who was killed in a game in 2008, after suffering a concussion and being cleared to return to play three weeks later with the assistance of ImPACT.
And check out this unintentionally comical report from the Jackson County (Michigan) Citizen Patriot, under the headline “Orthopaedic Rehab Specialists ‘ahead of the curve’ in helping treat athletes with concussions” (http://www.mlive.com/sports/jackson/index.ssf/2011/10/orthopaedic_rehab_specialists.html):
No one knows that better than Sullivan Evans, a Lumen Christi High School sophomore who suffered two concussions last year playing freshman football. The first one occurred after a helmet-to-helmet hit in the season opener.
“The ImPACT test proved it (was a concussion),” said his mother, Kristin Evans. “He said, ‘Now that I know what that feels like, I bet I’ve had six of those playing hockey.’ “
It took four weeks before Sullivan’s ImPACT test scores showed he was ready to return to action. Then in his first game back, he suffered another concussion. This time, it was six months before he was cleared to play contact sports again.
Wow, give these docs a Nobel Prize! They sent the kid back out there for a second concussion four weeks after his first one … but they sure guarded against that vaunted third-concussion syndrome!
The article proceeds, deadpan: “So far this fall, 89 athletes have suffered concussions, and Chamberlain said every school in the county had at least one football player out with a concussion for three to four weeks.”
The invaluable Matt Chaney is compiling an updated nationwide list of serious prep brain injuries this season, and I’ll be pointing to it as soon as it’s up on his blog.
Irv Muchnick