Houston NFL Doc Howard Derman Complains ‘Privately’ About Muchnick Beyond Chron Column

The second title of the Concussion Inc. ebook shorts series, UPMC: Concussion Scandal Ground Zero, is now available for $1.49 on Amazon Kindle, http://amzn.to/A0HQ2g, or as a simple PDF file by remitting $1.49 to [email protected].

Houston neurologist Dr. Howard Derman, who was criticized in my Beyond Chron column today (see link in the previous post), complained about it in a email through an intermediary. Since Derman marked at the top of his email that it was not for publication, I have emailed him my request for permission to publish it.

In the meantime, here is my own reply to the substance of Derman’s comments:

My fundamental response to you is: You gave the quote to the Houston Chronicle; you own it. [“I’m not saying it’s safer to play football as a child [than other activities], but the plasticity – flexibility, in layman’s terms – in the brain is greater in a child, and it has more room to swell. So things we see in adult football players are slightly less of a concern in children.”]

The point of the Chronicle story is that football is safer than cheerleading. Beyond preposterous.

It is good to hear that you are paid $0.00 by the Texans. Is Methodist Hospital likewise paid $0.00? Or maybe the better question: Does Methodist Hospital pay the Texans $0.00? The team’s logo and association are right there on your center’s website (which, incidentally, has no non-patient contact info, and no telephone number for media inquiries, that I can see).

My article did not claim that $5 was an unfair market price for what I have long opined is the unreliable ImPACT test. That the true cost is more does not surprise me, and merely reinforces the argument that football concussion “solutions” will bankrupt our public schools. There is no way every high school football program in the country can successfully execute all the “football safety” mandates of new state-by-state legislation.

Please call me any time. I also invite you to email your and Methodist Hospital’s contracts with the Texans, for both medical services and sponsorship.

Irvin Muchnick