Congress to hold hearings on NFL players' head injuries

From The New York Times:

As debate over football’s long-term effects on players’ cognitive function continues among doctors and the N.F.L., the discussion will soon move to Congress.

Representative John Conyers Jr., a Michigan Democrat and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, announced in a statement late Friday afternoon that the committee planned to hold hearings on the impact of head injuries sustained by N.F.L. players, “and what can be done to limit them and compensate the players and their families.”

Conyers did not indicate when hearings would take place or specifically who from the league and players union would be called to testify. The statement hinted that the discussion would extend beyond the professional game: “This issue affects not just N.F.L. players, but millions of high school and college football players as well,” it said.

Conyers’s announcement follows a report in The New York Times this week that a study commissioned by the N.F.L. indicated that its retired players, particularly those ages 30 through 49, appear to have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease or related cognitive disorders vastly more often than the general population.

“I’m overwhelmed with relief that something is finally coming to fruition with this,” said Lisa McHale, whose husband, Tom, played offensive line for nine seasons before experiencing cognitive decline and dying of a drug overdose in 2008. He was later found to have brain damage commonly associated with boxers.

“It’s not just for the N.F.L. players, because they’re such a small microcosm of those who play. Finally someone in a position to do something about this is looking at it.”

In an e-mail message, the N.F.L. spokesman Greg Aiello said that the league looked forward “to further discussing these important matters and reviewing the work we have done to reduce and properly manage concussions and assist our retired players.”

Sean Morey, the union player representative for the Arizona Cardinals, said in a telephone interview that he saw the committee as being “in a unique position to serve as a catalyst for change.”

“They can force the league and players to focus their attention to work together to look at the short- and long-term risks that players face,” said Morey, who will be co-chairman of a new union committee to study head trauma that was also announced Friday. “Players know there are risks to football, but they have to know all the risks.”

In June 2007, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law held a hearing on the care afforded N.F.L. retirees, but that hearing dealt more with the league’s pension and disability plan. This hearing will deal specifically with the causes of early-onset dementia among retired players.

Several academic studies and many outside experts — even before the N.F.L. study that came to light this week — have indicated that multiple concussions sustained by ex-players played a significant role in the cognitive decline some experience. The league and the doctors on its concussion committee have steadfastly maintained that research remains inconclusive.

One retired player, the Hall of Fame receiver Steve Largent, will have a unique perspective on the hearings: He not only said in a telephone interview Friday that he was experiencing some cognitive problems, perhaps related to his football career, but he also served in Congress from 1994 through 2002.

“Having a hearing will shed some light on the issue,” Largent, 55, said. “It’s possible that concussions have no long-term effects in some players, but it’s obvious that in some players there are. My advice to the N.F.L. is don’t shy away from the facts — don’t be afraid of the facts. I think the league will be responsive.”