NFL Painkiller Lawsuit

[Latrinsorm]

A new player lawsuit against the NFL alleges (http://nfl.si.com/2014/05/20/nfl-lawsuit-illegal-painkillers/) that teams...

1. Gave players illegal painkillers.
2. Lied (by commission) to the players about the severity of their injuries.
3. Lied (by omission) to the players about the side effects of said painkillers.

I assume the usual suspects will dismiss this as the players knowing what they were getting into, so my larger question is: what would the NFL have to have done in order to warrant criticism in your mind?

[cwolff]

A new player lawsuit against the NFL alleges (http://nfl.si.com/2014/05/20/nfl-lawsuit-illegal-painkillers/) that teams...

1. Gave players illegal painkillers.
2. Lied (by commission) to the players about the severity of their injuries.
3. Lied (by omission) to the players about the side effects of said painkillers.

I assume the usual suspects will dismiss this as the players knowing what they were getting into, so my larger question is: what would the NFL have to have done in order to warrant criticism in your mind?

Pay cheerleaders minimum wage. That would cause a PC ruckus.

[Sorcasaurus]

The problem with this, and similar problems with all professional sports, is how easily the blame can be shifted to individual trainers and doctors. Without a paper trail or recorded quote, it'll be damn near impossible to have it stick to any institution, or the NFL as a whole.

[Gelston]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WS6-vI70oc0

[SHAFT]

The painkillers weren't forced upon players. They were made available. Colin cowherd made a good point, chewing tobacco was made available to baseball players for years. Should former baseball players be suing MLB for any health problems they have from chewing tobacco?

Where's the personal responsibility?

[Latrinsorm]

The painkillers weren't forced upon players. They were made available. Colin cowherd made a good point, chewing tobacco was made available to baseball players for years. Should former baseball players be suing MLB for any health problems they have from chewing tobacco?The analogy holds if chewing tobacco:
1. Was otherwise illegal for baseball players to obtain. (it was not)
2. Was used to treat an injury. (it was not)
3. Had side effects MLB knew about but chose not to divulge to the players. (they did not)
Thus, the analogy is 100% incorrect.
Where's the personal responsibility?We're talking about doctors who lied to their patients and illegally gave them drugs (allegedly). Where I come from people who commit crimes are responsible for them, not the people they commit them against.

[Sorcasaurus]

Chewing tabacco is a poor analogy to pain killers given to players by a medical staff.

It's not just the pain killers, it's their use as a means of hiding the severity of the injuries from players or intentionally not telling them of possible effects of the drug. I'm sure there was a degree of willing blindness on the players part, but there has to be some degree of responsibility if you're a doctor/health professional giving drugs out like candy.

Instead of telling players of broken bones and other serious injuries, it’s alleged that teams knowingly hid major injuries. Several players claim that they retired from the NFL addicted to those painkillers.

I'm sure a percentage of players would have taken the drugs knowing the possible side effects, but it's important that they're the ones to make that choice.

[Tgo01]

How the heck do you keep a broken bone secret from a player? I think that's something I would notice, regardless of what my doctor is telling me :/

Do these sports doctors have complete control of the players' healthcare? Don't they see a private doctor who says "Oh by the way, you have 3 broken ribs"? I'm not excusing the team doctor's behavior, just curious how they keep something like this a secret.

[Latrinsorm]

How the heck do you keep a broken bone secret from a player? I think that's something I would notice, regardless of what my doctor is telling me :/Because you're a bleeder. You bleed too much. You're weak. You've got no endurance for pain.
Do these sports doctors have complete control of the players' healthcare? Don't they see a private doctor who says "Oh by the way, you have 3 broken ribs"? I'm not excusing the team doctor's behavior, just curious how they keep something like this a secret.You've had something wrong with you in the past. Did you see two doctors for it? If you didn't, why should they?

[Tgo01]

You've had something wrong with you in the past. Did you see two doctors for it? If you didn't, why should they?

Second opinion! You think I take your word for everything you say? I double check and triple check it with my sources. So far you have a 48% believability factor.

Also if I heard stories that my doctor was keeping injuries a secret and was lying about the side effects of drugs then yes, yes I would see another doctor.

[Sorcasaurus]

How the heck do you keep a broken bone secret from a player? I think that's something I would notice, regardless of what my doctor is telling me :/

This is actually more common than you'd think. "Broken" also includes degrees of cracking, so it won't always be visibly disfigured. Cracked ribs for example could be explained as a bad contusion. I've seen players go to the training room after a game with broken hands/arms not even knowing when they did it. It just hurt enough to get it checked out. The diagnosis surprised most of them.

EDIT: By players I mean college, high school and youth football players in my area.

[Gelston]

I broke my wrist once. I didn't realize it was broken, but when it still hurt days later I went to the doctor. If I was on pain meds, I wouldn't have been aware of it at all.

[~Rocktar~]

The problem with this, and similar problems with all professional sports, is how easily the blame can be shifted to individual trainers and doctors. Without a paper trail or recorded quote, it'll be damn near impossible to have it stick to any institution, or the NFL as a whole.

Unfortunately this is a very accurate assessment of the problem.

[SHAFT]

The analogy holds if chewing tobacco:
1. Was otherwise illegal for baseball players to obtain. (it was not)
2. Was used to treat an injury. (it was not)
3. Had side effects MLB knew about but chose not to divulge to the players. (they did not)
Thus, the analogy is 100% incorrect.We're talking about doctors who lied to their patients and illegally gave them drugs (allegedly). Where I come from people who commit crimes are responsible for them, not the people they commit them against.

Sorry, I'm not buying any of it. Most of the NFL players suing would have taken anything to get back onto the field to play. This is a cash grab.

[Latrinsorm]

Sorry, I'm not buying any of it. Most of the NFL players suing would have taken anything to get back onto the field to play. This is a cash grab.Objection, Terrence. Speculative and irrelevant. Doctors aren't allowed to break the law even if their patients tell(/order/beg) them to, that's why Dr. Kevorkian was successfully convicted of murder. Doctors also aren't allowed to lie to patients even if the patients would have agreed to the treatment anyway.

[SHAFT]

Allegedly

[subzero]

Sorry, I'm not buying any of it. Most of the NFL players suing would have taken anything to get back onto the field to play. This is a cash grab.

I agree. Now, obviously it's wrong for the physicians and medical staff to lie about things, but as has been said, that falls on the individuals in question rather than the entire league. I'm kind of curious to know who is making these claims; if they were the type of guy(s) that would also lie about their status in order to continue playing, tell the doctors to do whatever to keep them on the field, etc. It would also be interesting to know the years they played, what kind of money they were making, and what their financial situation is currently. It's still not right for the doctors to lie about things, but I think it's a bit of a two-way street if the player in question also lied to the team and its staff about their condition/status and were the type of guy willing to do whatever it took to stay on the field.