BOSTON (AP) — A new Harvard University study says the NFL should stop using doctors paid by the team to determine whether players are able to come back from an injury.
The report from the NFL Players Association-funded Football Players Health Study also recommends a short-term injured reserve for players recovering from a concussion, much like the system that baseball adopted five years ago.
The report issued Thursday includes 76 recommendations addressed to 20 stakeholders in the game — everyone from players and teams to equipment manufacturers and government regulators. The biggest message: Player safety will never be the top priority as long as those involved have competing calls on their loyalty.
To address the conflict of interest faced by doctors paid by the teams, the report recommends that the league and the union jointly hire the physicians who decide how to treat an injured player and when he can return to the game.
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said the league would study the report and discuss the recommendations with its clubs, medical staff and the union.
Is asking football players to name the president or state their birthday the best way to diagnose concussions?
A soon-to-be-released paper is expected to give a boost to a more scientific approach: a blood test that can quickly diagnose concussions more effectively than simple clinical methods administered by doctors and trainers.
The paper by National Institutes of Health researchers, expected to be published in the coming weeks online in the journal Neurology, raises hopes that eventually a blood test for a concussion will be as objective as diagnosing high cholesterol or a heart attack, according to people who have read the research. It comes amid growing frustration among scientists and even those on National Football League sidelines with the so-called protocols for diagnosing brain injuries.
A breakthrough could help not just $100-million NFL quarterbacks, but also soldiers on the battlefield, victims of auto accidents and children who fall off the monkey bars. It could also help with early identification of the damage that leads to the degenerative brain disease known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE.
For the NFL, the emergence of a diagnostic tool based on medical data, rather than judgment, highlights the awkward balancing act it faces in the concussion debate.
The test could help tamp down withering criticism that the league has ignored the effects of head injuries. But it may also reveal more vividly how dangerous the game really is—and potentially sideline more players for longer periods even if they aren’t suffering from obvious concussion-related symptoms.
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Study Calls For Outside Doctors In NFL Games
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