The Ethical Issues Of Concussion By Jeanne Marie Laskas

The purpose of this paper is to address ethical issues in Concussion, written by Jeanne Marie Laskas. The paper will present a summary of the work, statement of an ethical question, enumeration of ethical concerns, discussion of data used in the decision making, evaluation of those options, and conclude with a summary of a discussion of what can legally, morally, and ethically be done to address the ethical question raised in the book. Concussion revolves around Dr. Bennet Omalu and the research that established Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). Omalu is a forensic neuropathologist from Nigeria who came to America to chase dreams as a doctor and researcher. Omalu’s discovery began in the brain of Mike Webster, a National Football†¦show more content†¦The NFL attempted to hide the truth and resolved to a biased decision that was unethical. The most important unethical issue was the lack of clarity for the players involved. The players were uninformed about the risk factors of their career. The NFL did not compensate for the injuries acquired during their career. Lastly, the issue broadens beyond professional football to different sports, even those involving many American youths, who are affected by CTE. The three main concerns led to the ethical question which examines whether or not it is ethical to allow players to continue participating in sports activity that would result in long-term dama ges to the brain. Facts from journals examine cognitive impairment related to concussions, methods that NFL took to handle the cases, and application of the study results to sports beyond the NFL. Facts from the article â€Å"CITE† examines how the NFL dealt with the issues of concussions over the years. Beginning with Omalu’s discovery of CTE, the NFL strongly resisted to admitting that multiple head injuries leads to impair cognitive functions. The NFL committee was composed of internal NFL doctors who denied scientific studies claiming of the lack of scientific evidence and causation between repeated head injuries and brain damage. The Congressional Hearing in 2009 criticized NFL’s concussion policy and demanded the committee to take