The broken promises of the NFL concussion settlement

…….Some of this doctor’s and others’ diagnoses were overturned by the administrative law firm overseeing the settlement because patients’ symptoms weren’t serious enough under the CDR scale:

They could, the reviewers said, still drive or work. Glen Ray Hines Sr., a former offensive tackle, could maneuver a vehicle and walk on a treadmill — but he couldn’t manage his finances; and his wife had to explain TV programs and newspaper stories to him.

His own doctor had been treating him for dementia for years. Review doctors, however, said the driving and exercise ruled him out. He died in an assisted-living facility; an autopsy found he had severe CTE.

At least 12 more players have met the same fate, with the same postmortem diagnosis.
To add insult to traumatic brain injury, even when players’ symptoms do meet every definition of dementia, their struggle often still isn’t over.

The NFL touted during settlement negotiations that it was protecting players with multiple health problems by waiving arguments about “causation.”

Yet it turns out this only meant that players wouldn’t have to prove their football careers caused their dementia — it didn’t mean they wouldn’t have to prove their dementia, not something else, was causing their cognitive decline.

Settlement review doctors denied claims by blaming sleep apnea, depression, alcohol abuse, bipolar disorder and even vitamin B12 deficiencies for former players’ impairment.

It didn’t matter that sometimes those players’ own physicians had ruled out these other causes…….

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/01/31/nfl-concussion-cte-brain-injury/