Virginia Injury Lawyer Blog

A New York Times story this week about the frequency of Alzheimer’s disease among retired National Football League players is generating a lot of discussion about traumatic brain injury.

Alzheimer’s or comparable diseases that affect the memory has been diagnosed in far more retired players than in comparable parts of the general population.

Most notably, The Times reported, retired players age 30 to 49 receive such diagnoses 19 times more often that same-aged men in the general population.

“This is a game-changer — the whole debate, the ball’s now in the N.F.L.’s court,” a physician who has studied the issue told the newspaper.

The N.F.L. has argued that useful data about memory issues among retirees does not exist. An N.F.L. spokesman told the newspaper that the study had a number of limitations and that “there are thousands of retired players who do not have memory problems.”

As The Times noted, the study could have profound effects at the college and high school levels, where hundreds of concussions happen weekly – many undiagnosed and untreated.

In Hampton Roads, Ed Beard of Chesapeake played in the N.F.L. from 1965 to 1972. He suffered concussions in his playing days and now has memory loss, headaches, fatigue and depression, according to a 2008 story in the Virginian-Pilot.

Beard’s application for football-related disability payments was rejected by a board of N.F.L. officials and player union representatives. Instead, Beard is paid a lower non-football disability payment.  

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