An autopsy done on Phillip Adams, who shot six people to death before killing himself in April, revealed that he had a severe form of the brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Symptoms of a brain disease caused by repeated head trauma include depression, paranoia, and loss of impulse control. There is no known cure for the disease if you can't diagnose it in living subjects.
Adams was denied all of his claims due to his inability to remember things and to handle simple tasks, but after going through medical records from his football career, we know that he was desperately seeking help from the N.F.L.
A study of the brains of deceased football players found a 99 percent rate of the brain disease, chronic traumatic encephalopathy. The league denied the findings of Dr. Omalu in 2002, but things have changed since then. Billions of dollars have been doled out in concussion settlements, rule changes have been implemented to limit the risk of head injury, and stricter in-game concussion protocols have been put into place. There has not been any attempt to publicly acknowledge the dangers that the sport places its players in on a day-to-day basis in games and practices. The Adams tragedy shows that the disease is not only a danger to the player who contracts it, but to others around him.
The autopsies of both former football players, who shot and killed people close to them before committing suicide, showed that they had the same disease. A prominent neurosurgeon said violence against others was not typically part of the CTE picture.
There is a question as to whether there is a link between the NFL's domestic violence problems and the mounting diagnoses of chronic traumatic encephalopathy in deceased players. There have been multiple cases of players who were accused of domestic violence in their lifetimes later being found to have had the disease. It is difficult for everyone to acknowledge the link between violent conduct and chronic traumatic encephalomyelitis without excusing intimate partner and stranger violence.
The NFL has tried to control and minimize the narrative of brain disease caused by football for two decades, but this continuing research poses a serious problem as it loses its grip on the narrative. Since the disease cannot be diagnosed before death, the league has a certain plausible deniability in cases like that of Adams.
It is in the best interests of the league to make it difficult for players like Adams to get help. The league has a moral obligation to address the issue of public safety after violent episodes.
The NFL risks enormous financial loss as studies on brain trauma gain traction and expose the dangers of tackle football at all levels, from childhood to professional play, thus, they will likely never truly acknowledge the troubling and terrifying reality that neurologists have presented to the public in the past. The brains of dead professional hockey players and boxers have been found to have the brain disease known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
