By Dr. Anand Veeravagu & Tej Azad
The Daily Beast | December 26, 2013
Twenty-three plaintiffs in the class-action suit against the NFL died this year. Thousands more live with problems. The roots of their injuries go deeper than professional football.
John Didion and John Wilbur never made the Pro Football Hall of Fame but they joined an even more select group in 2013. Didion and Wilbur’s deaths shortly before Christmas mean 23 former players suing the National Football League have died in this past year alone.
The NFL and players settled this summer for $765 million, which will be paid out according to injury, next year. But even a slice of the almost-billion-dollar pie is not enough for some retired players: ex-quarterback Craig Morton opted out of the settlement so he could sue the NFL for failing to protect players.
While Morton and other retired players like Brett Favre (who suffers from memory lapses and claims he forgot his daughter played soccer) are looking for answers to their troubles, what’s clear is that a lifetime of head trauma results in a clinical syndrome that varies from player to player.
To read the entire article click here: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/12/26/what-s-killing-concussed-players-who-left-the-nfl.html
