No denying harm of head injuries
AFL affiliated doctors questioning the link between head knocks and mental health are using “the same lines we heard from big tobacco and the people defending the asbestos industry”, a top US concussion expert said yesterday.
Chris Nowinski, co-founder and executive director of the Concussion Legacy Foundation in Boston, said it was no surprise some major sporting bodies were still in denial about the long-term effects of concussions.
“Our experience in America has been that the professional sports league will deny that there’s a problem because of the legal liability of admitting there’s a problem and having to pay for the long-term care of the players,” Nowinski said.
“But once they settle the lawsuit they are able to speak more honestly about the problem.
“The NFL did that — they denied it in the face of overwhelming evidence until 2016 when the ink was drying on the settlement.
“What I am hearing from two doc- tors in Australia that are affiliated with the AFL are the same lines we have heard in the United States and the same lines we have heard from big tobacco and the people defending the asbestos industry.”
One of the AFL’s top concussion advisers, Dr Paul McCrory from Melbourne’s Florey Institute, made headlines two years ago when he referred to “all the carry-on and hoo-ha you get from the United States” about concussion.
McCrory accused the media of “oversimplifying” a complex topic and questioned the significance of the Foundation’s finding that 4 per cent of NFL players had suffered from the degenerative brain disease CTE — chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
“The other way to look at it is 96 per cent don’t get it,” McCrory said during a speech at Melbourne University in April 2016.
A Federal Court concussion damages action against the AFL led by Adelaide United chairman Greg Griffin and veteran player agent Peter Jess will be lodged later this year. The case will model those successfully mounted by NFL players in the US.
Asked yesterday about its prospects, Nowinski told the Herald Sun: “I don’t know your legal system or how common class actions are, but what I can say is that developing chronic traumatic encephalopathy crushes your ability to have an income and can require millions of dollars in medical care — and somebody has to pay for that for these guys not to be left on the side of the road somewhere.
“It’s not surprising at all to get denial — it’s the big tobacco playbook and has played out in legal liability cases forever. We could write their comments for them.”
Nowinski, a former professional wrestler and college footballer, is in Australia to help launch Australia’s first sports-specific brain bank.
Yesterday’s Herald Sun revealed dual Brownlow medallist Greg “Diesel” Williams and Mark of the Century high-flyer Shaun Smith had committed to donating their brains to Australia’s version of the Boston brain bank — a joint initiative between Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and the University of Sydney.