Essay On Dr Bennet Omalu

The NFL (National Football League) up until recent years has intentionally tried to cover up the long term effects of concussions on the brain. Is been hidden from the athletes at all levels youth through professional. Many player’s lives were changed and some lost as a result. Dr. Bennet Omalu was the first to shed light on the long term effects of multiple concussions on football players. Players like”NFL” Hall of Famer Mike Webster who suffered from dementia and passed away at the age of fifty. He became the first player to be diagnosed with CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) by Dr. Omalu. As well as players at the youth level like Zackery Lystedt who suffered a concussion and was sent back into play he now suffers from permanent brain

damage. The “NFL” chose to sweep the findings by Dr.Omalu under the rug hiding it from the public and the players instead of making changes to how football players at all levels are diagnosed and treated for concussions.
Dr.

Bennet Omalu is neuropathologist from Nigeria he became the first person to connect football head injuries to the degenerative brain disease known as CTE. He made this discovery in 2002, not until thirteen years later did the “NFL” settle a class action lawsuit to provide 5 million dollars to any retired players with medical conditions linked to repeated head trauma (Dobb and Herst). In those thirteen years he “NFL” did everything in their ability to discredit his research and ruin his reputation. After the “NFL” finally accepted his research as truthful Dr. Omalu referred to himself as “bruised and battered” after the years of attack on his credibility and research (Dobb and Herst). The leagues fear to change the game has made them willing to go to great lengths to hide and suppress the release of medical studies that provides a connection between football and brain

damage.
The true danger concussion was hidden from the players of the “NFL” even after the findings were made by Dr.

Omalu. Former player that in their playing days were known as “Heavy Hitter” were dropping like flies and CTE was linked to their untimely deaths. The first diagnosed case of CTE was in Mike Webster a Hall of Famer Center who after his career ended in 1990 was found to have Clinical depression and dementia. In his life after the league he faced long periods of homelessness and died at the age of 50 (Noonan). His autopsy by Dr. Omalu showed microscopic damage to the brain caused by repeated blunt force trauma over a long period of time. After his work was published nothing was done to make Football more safe for players at any level but parents still signed their kids up by the thousands. Parents of young football players often have an attitude of “it won’t be my kid”. This irrational justification of them putting their children into scientifically proven harmful situations is without the child’s knowledge of what they signed up for. This is where Dr.Omalu made a great suggestion "Our children are minors who have not reached the age of consent, wait for our children to grow up then provide them, as adults, with information on the risks involved and let them make their own decisions."(Dobb and

Herst).
The “NFL” and their failure to recognized the work of Dr.Omalu cause nearly years of teams turning a blind eye to concussions has resulted in many preventable injuries in players at all levels of the game. Like the tragedy of what happened to Zackery Lystedt a high school football player who due to the lack of awareness made to coaches, fellow players, and sports physicians he was sent back in after suffering a concussion. He played out the rest of the game and received a second concussion but it wasn’t until right after the game when he collapsed. It then took him two years before they could take him off a feeding tube and four before he could move his limbs with purpose (Mukand). Its injuries like this that this that public announcements that can raise public awareness and prevent these accidents. The football community instead promotes the idea that this is just part of the game.
In conclusion, the “NFL” for years has discredited the finding of doctors like Dr. Omalu which has left the football community in the dark when it comes with how to deal with concussions. Their failure to make the connection between football and brain injuries has put many players at risk who may have been unaware of the potential hazard to their health. The suppression of the findings made by Dr. Omalu kept parents of youth player from knowing the potential danger of playing football. This further raised the misconception that concussions and football go hand in hand. The “National Football League” a multibillion dollar entity that used its power to suppress research about head injuries that happened as a result of football. Even though football has been linked to brain damage parents still sign their kids up by the thousands and putting them at risk against the hard evidence.