Researchers are slated to release autopsy results Monday for ex-Chicago Bear Dave Duerson, who committed suicide by shooting himself in the chest rather than the head so his brain could be studied for disease from football-related injuries, according to The New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/02/sports/football/02duerson.html?ref=sports
There will be a press conference at the Boston University School of Medicine, where members of the school’s Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy and Duerson’s ex-wife Alicia will be present.
So far roughly two dozen former National Football League players have been determined to have had chronic trauamatic encephalopathy (CTE), a disease caused by repetitive brain injury — the kind you get by playing football.
Duerson, 50, believed that he was suffering CTE, which can cause depression, memory loss and dementia.
Here’s a twist in Duerson’s case, which The Times astutely pointed out.
Duerson had been on a panel since 2006 that weighed disability claims by ex-NFL players. That board has been reluctant to award benefits to former players for things such as neurological damage, according to The Times, which also noted that Duerson once told a Senate subcommittee that he had doubts about players’ mental problems stemming from football.
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