Are You Ready for Some (Political) Football? - the NFL, Concussion Research, the NIH, and the Revolving Door
Probably because it involved the favorite American sport, the controversy about the risk of concussions to professional National Football League (NFL) players, and how the NFL has handled the issue is very well known. A recent article in Stat, however, suggested that one less well known aspect of the story overlaps some issues to concern to Health Care Renewal.Allegations that a Prominent Physician and NFL Official Tried to Influence the NIH Grant Review Process The article began,Dr. Elizabeth Nabel, president of Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital [BWH] and one of the nation’s most prominent medical execut...
Source: Health Care Renewal - May 26, 2016 Category: Health Management Tags: conflicts of interest NIH Partners Healthcare revolving doors Source Type: blogs
CONCUSSION: Bioethics, Foot Ball and Post Traumatic Lies.
Concussion is a documentary biography about medical science’s triumph over a social and corporate conspiracy to suppress evidence of a serious preventable disease. Forensic pathologist, Bennett Omalu, MD, discovered a pathognomonic sign confirming chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). He happened to find it in a cluster of professional football players during autopsies. Concussion was written and directed by Peter Landesman, who managed a riveting story pace, despite most of the visuals occurring in the inglorious world of microscopes and morgues —done to death on television. Will Smith’s Dr. ...
Source: blog.bioethics.net - May 11, 2016 Category: Medical Ethics Authors: September Williams, MD Tags: Health Care syndicated Source Type: blogs
Concussions: A Girls’ Health Problem
For many people, the connection between sports and concussions will come as no surprise. Within the past few months, concussions have had a continued presence in the media, mostly as they pertain to professional football. Intentionally or not, the NFL has been leading the charge on concussion awareness for the past several years. In 2014, documents were brought to federal court saying that a third of all retired NFL players were expected to develop a “long-term cognitive problem” at some point in their lives as a result of head injuries from football. Recently, a court finally affirmed the deal for the NFL to compensat...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - May 4, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Children gender Policy Women's Health Source Type: blogs
The Truth About Cognitive Impairment in Retired NFL Players
NINETY-TWO percent of retired National Football League players have decreased cognitive function, according to a new study:“In the NFL group, baseline neuropsychological assessments showed 92% of players had decreased general cognitive proficiency, 86% had decreased information processing speed, 83% had memory loss, 83% had attentional deficits, and 85% had executive function impairment.”The Truth?The study reported on a self-selected sample of 161 current and retired NFL players recruited via a blog (“The NFL concealed the danger of brain injuries!!”), the Los Angeles Chapter of the Retired NFL Players Associat...
Source: The Neurocritic - April 29, 2016 Category: Neuroscience Authors: The Neurocritic Source Type: blogs
Super Docs 2.0
Guest post by Tane Eunson – A student of the game (6th year M.B.B.S.)
As the plane descended over the Southern Alps and through the Canterbury Plains, making it’s way east to the Pacific Ocean like the Waimakariri, I couldn’t help but feel excited to be returning home. Home being the shaky isles of New Zealand and my six-week medical elective being in the particularly shaky city of Christchurch.
The Waimakariri River, Canterbury, NZ. December 10th, 2015
Although Perth has been my new home since 2007, I spent the four years prior to that gaining my undergraduate degree in Christchurch; four years which I look back...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - April 15, 2016 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Mike Cadogan Tags: Sports Medicine crusaders Dr Deb Robinson elective rugby Tane Eunson Waimakariri Waimumu Wiremu Source Type: blogs
The NFL & Research Ethics
It’s not every day that research ethics makes it way to the front pages of the newspapers. Usually those issues are addressed in other, less prominent venues. But last week’s New York Times article by Alan Schwarz, Walt Bogdanich, and Jacqueline Williams, “N.F.L.’s Flawed Concussion Research and Ties to the Tobacco Industry,” continued the controversial concussion discussion by reporting that the multi-billion dollar league omitted... // Read More » (Source: blog.bioethics.net)
Source: blog.bioethics.net - March 28, 2016 Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Neil Skjoldal Tags: Health Care bioethics syndicated Source Type: blogs
Safe Sport – Protecting the Players and the Game
Rugby and contact sport has always been a part of my life; from the junior rugby fields where organizing young children is like herding cats, to university rugby with post game beers and weekly rejection from the blondes of the ladies hockey team. I’ve always been passionate about sport but now as I’m aging and no longer finding difficulty putting on weight, I’m noticing a different aspect to it; in particular, a large change in the way we prepare and our awareness of participant safety.
Many of us will be able to name some disasters in sport. One of the most high profile in the last few years would have to be Phill...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - February 23, 2016 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Johnny Iliff Tags: Pre-hospital / Retrieval Sports Medicine Concussion ICIR ICIS Petr Čech pitch-side care Safe Sport sport triage Source Type: blogs
Concussion – why we should remain skeptical
This past weekend I saw Concussion. The movie, while well done, left me conflicted as a scientist. As I often do after seeing movies based on true stories, I searched the internet for a good commentary. I found this article – Concussion Lies.
I suspect this article has significant biases, however, we should all remain skeptical because the science described in the movie involves correlation rather than causation. Dr. Omalu discovered a pathological finding associated with football players. He studied football players who had committed suicide or died in other violent ways. He then made a cognitive leap a...
Source: DB's Medical Rants - January 7, 2016 Category: Internal Medicine Authors: rcentor Tags: Medical Rants Source Type: blogs
""Concussion' Lies" - From Slate
A good read from Slate about the movie, "Concussion": Concussion Liesby Daniel EngberSlate21 December 2015 Concussion Lies (link) Don't mistake drama for truth, fiction for fact, excellent acting for documentary accuracy. And, in the bigger picture, the loudness of an argument for the sound scientific basis of that argument. (Source: BrainBlog)
Source: BrainBlog - December 21, 2015 Category: Neurology Source Type: blogs
" " Concussion' Lies " - From Slate
A good read from < i > Slate < /i > about the movie, " Concussion " : < p > < b > < i > Concussion < /i > Lies < /b > < br > by Daniel Engber < br > < i > Slate < /i > < br > 21 December 2015 < p > < a href= " http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2015/12/the_truth_about_will_smith_s_concussion_and_bennet_omalu.html " > < i > Concussion < /i > Lies < /a > (link) < p > Don ' t mistake drama for truth, fiction for fact, excellent acting for documentary accuracy. < p > And, in the bigger picture, the loudness of an argument for the sound scientific basis of that argument. < p > (Source: BrainBlog)
Source: BrainBlog - December 21, 2015 Category: Neurology Source Type: blogs
Electronic Health Record Data Shows Reports of Hoverboard Risks Zipping Higher
By HANNAH GALVIN, MD
When I was 10, Marty McFly rode a hoverboard through a 2015 Hill Valley’s Courthouse Square, and I knew what I wanted from Santa that year. Needless to say, I was disappointed that Christmas morning in ’89.
Fast forward to the real 2015, and a tattooed woman in her early 20’s has maneuvered her way off the DC Red Line and onto the escalator in front of me riding some kind of self-powered two-wheeled object that looks like a disembodied Segway. It has a blue neon underglow that gives it the appearance of floating. My calves ache in sympathy as she shuffles to maintain her balance on our long asc...
Source: The Health Care Blog - December 18, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Simon Nath Tags: THCB Hannah Galvin Source Type: blogs
Electronic Health Record Data Shows Hoverboard Health Risks Zipping Higher
By HANNAH GALVIN, MD
When I was 10, Marty McFly rode a hoverboard through a 2015 Hill Valley’s Courthouse Square, and I knew what I wanted from Santa that year. Needless to say, I was disappointed that Christmas morning in ’89.
Fast forward to the real 2015, and a tattooed woman in her early 20’s has maneuvered her way off the DC Red Line and onto the escalator in front of me riding some kind of self-powered two-wheeled object that looks like a disembodied Segway. It has a blue neon underglow that gives it the appearance of floating. My calves ache in sympathy as she shuffles to maintain her balance on our long asc...
Source: The Health Care Blog - December 18, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Simon Nath Tags: THCB Hannah Galvin Source Type: blogs
We should radically change the way we play football
As the awareness and recognition of concussion in sports continue to increase and the frightening long-term outcomes for frequently and severely concussed athletes are realized, as a physician I cannot help but advocate drastic changes in football. Of the major sports, it sees the highest rates of concussion, and for every highly publicized Greek tragedy of a broken NFL star (Jim McMahon, Junior Seau, Dave Duerson), there are thousands more untold stories of lives forever damaged by cumulative head trauma.
Post-mortem analysis showed evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in 87 of 91 (96 percent) of NF...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - December 12, 2015 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Keith Pochick, MD Tags: Physician Neurology Source Type: blogs
Research and Reviews in the Fastlane 111
This study from Canada looked at the ED diagnosis of concussion in a convenience sample of 495 kids within 2 weeks of head injury and found that compared to the Zurich criteria, ED physicians underdiagnosed concussion. ED physicians diagnosed concussion in 40.4% of the patients, while the Zurich criteria for concussion were fulfilled by 89.5%. Concussion was more likely to be diagnosed in kids >10 years old, those playing collision sports, those with an injury >1 day prior, or 3+ symptoms. This criteria, in this case defined by SCAT3 (not validated in all head trauma/cumbersome in ED), may represent another area of o...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - December 3, 2015 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Anand Swaminathan Tags: Airway Cardiology Emergency Medicine Infectious Disease Intensive Care Pediatrics Resuscitation Toxicology and Toxinology Trauma Urology critical care literature R&R in the FASTLANE recommendations research and reviews Source Type: blogs
Narrative Matters: On Our Reading List
Editor’s note: “Narrative Matters: On Our Reading List” is a monthly roundup where we share some of the most compelling health care narratives driving the news and conversation in recent weeks.
Why Doctors Need The Humanities
Danielle Ofri, a physician at Bellevue Hospital and associate professor of medicine at New York University School of Medicine, has made a name for herself as a doctor who writes—and writes well—with four books published and a slew of narrative medicine publications in the lay press and scholarly outlets. Yet when she was starting out as an attending physician at a teaching hospital ...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - October 30, 2015 Category: Health Management Authors: Jessica Bylander Tags: Elsewhere@ Health Affairs Equity and Disparities Health Professionals Narrative Matters On Our Reading List personal stories Physicians poetry Source Type: blogs
