Bettman still refuses to believe link between concussions and CTE
NHL commissioner blames media for ‘fear mongering’ around issue
WASHINGTON NHL commissioner Gary Bettman continues to refute the link between concussions and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disorder that can lead to mental health issues and even suicide.
Bettman made his latest statement on the matter in a 24-page letter addressed to U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who has been critical of the NHL’s position on concussions and CTE.
“(T)he science regarding CTE, including on the asserted ‘link’ to concussions … remains nascent, particularly with respect to what causes CTE and whether it can be diagnosed by specific clinical symptoms,” Bettman writes in the letter published by the New York Times on Tuesday.
Bettman blamed the media for creating a culture of “fear mongering” around the issue and ranted against “widely-publicized misinformation relating to a supposed causal connection between concussions and CTE.”
“At bottom, the science just has not advanced to the point where causation determinations can responsibly be made,” he said, adding that the NHL’s stance on the matter reflects “medical consensus” that “a causal link between concussions and CTE has not been established.”
“If that consensus changes, so, too, will my answers,” he added.
Reaction to Bettman’s letter has been largely negative among hockey fans, some of whom believe Bettman has fallen behind the curve, especially in comparison to the NFL, which only this year acknowledged the link between concussions and CTE.
When asked if he there was a link between football and CTE during a congressional roundtable in March, the NFL’s senior vicepresident for health and safety, Jeff Miller, said, “The answer to that question is certainly yes.”
The NFL made the stunning admission after years of refuting a link while attempting to fight a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of former NFL players who suffered concussions while in the league. In April 2015, the court approved a settlement between the two sides and a year later, an appeals court upheld the decision that made the league accountable for upwards of $1 billion in monetary rewards to the group of around 4,500 retired players.
The NHL, meanwhile, is currently fighting its own class-action lawsuit brought by more than 100 former players who suffered concussions and other brain injuries while playing. The plaintiffs claim while they understood their career choice could lead to broken bones and other bodily harm, they were not aware of the long-term effects of brain trauma associated with the game. The players are seeking medical care for themselves and roughly 4,300 living retired players.
Bettman attempted to distance the NHL from comparisons to the NFL in his letter to Sen. Blumenthal, a tactic he’s used earlier, as well. In a subsection of the letter that appeared to be composed with the help of a legal team, Bettman argued football and hockey are very different and thus, should not be compared in terms of injury risk. He made similar remarks in March, directly after the NFL admitted the connection between football and CTE.
“It’s fairly clear that playing hockey isn’t the same as football,” he said then.
“NHL Hockey Is Different Than NFL Football,” he titled a subsection of his letter that appeared to be written with the help of an attorney this week. “Until recently, the medical community’s discussions about CTE did not even touch about NHL hockey,” Bettman wrote. Indeed, researchers at Boston University’s CTE centre — the most publicized researchers on CTE in football — told the NHL (and me personally) that they believe that NHL hockey is a vastly different sport than football, making it difficult to necessarily relate or link hypotheses on CTE as between the two sports.”
He added: “Likewise, any suggestion that the NHL has been ‘dismissive’ of a potential causal link between concussions and CTE is simply not true.”