Yeah, I was saying they never postpone, they just delay and then finish the game a few hours later. But there are multiple examples of moving games to a different day, which is what I would consider a postponement.
For example, I correctly remembered that the Saints weren’t postponed after Katrina, instead they had to play at Giants stadium instead of hosting the Giants. But at the same time, the Dolphins game actually got postponed two days, which I had forgotten.
I’m not aware of any where the postponement happened mid-game.
Maybe you’ve pivoted from your original position which was calling out Bayless for asking “how” the game could be postponed. You suggested that the NFL has plenty of experience with situations like this so Skip is an idiot. The point is that no, the NFL doesn’t have experience with situations like this.
True.
Obviously the NFL would have done the same postponement MLB did during the World Series when the San Francisco earthquake hit in '89; it just didn’t happen to be during an NFL game. All the rest you could see coming a mile away and postpone in advance to ensure public safety.
I guess that’s a unique aspect to this postponement. All the weather postponements, and if you squint even the COVID postponements were in the interest of public safety. This may be the first one where the public was never in any danger.
Not counting structural failures in stadiums like when the Minnesota dome collapsed from the snow, but I guess that’s still a public safety issue.
It’s not a medical source but Damar’s uncle said that he was resuscitated a 2nd time at the hospital. He also said he sustained damage to his lungs.
I mean, it’s not exactly “tone-deaf.” The ramifications of not playing this game will be massive, it would likely give the Chiefs the No. 1 seed, which is an even greater advantage now than before.
Not saying that the playoff implications are more important than a guy’s health, of course. But it’s not trivial either.
That’s what I wondered as well. When DeMarcus Ware (Cowboys) suffered what appeared to be a severe neck injury at first in a 2009 game against the Chargers, the game was paused for…well, half an hour, and then promptly resumed.
Same with every other NFL player I’ve ever seen who ever suffered, or appeared to suffer, a major injury. Everyone kneels, pauses, crowd is hushed, and…play resumes within half an hour.
Just a wag on my part but I think it has to to do with knowledge of what became of the player. In this case Damar Hamlin was basically dead on the field and then revived but nobody knew if he was going to make it. Heck, we still don’t know what’s going on. He could be in a coma with massive heart damage. I lost a close friend to this exact scenario.
I think his condition is going to greatly influence how this is handled.
Yes. I honestly thought I saw someone die on live TV last night.
Sports puts a lot of strain on the body. I remember news of high school and college kids collapsing at practice. Some hereditary heart problem that only appears after intense activity. Schools have people trained in CPR until help arrives
It’s surprising that Damar played so many years without any problems.
As I understand it he was perfectly healthy. He was just very unlucky. This is a very rare occurrence. The heart has to be at a specific cycle of beating, a hit to a specific part of the chest, knocks the heart out of the proper rhythm, and causes cardiac arrest. That is the explanation I’ve seen, and someone above mentioned the medical name of the phenomenon. His heart has most likely been damaged, but he didn’t have a pre-existing condition as far as I have heard.
Before last night I’d never heard of him, so when I read his post it was pretty obvious to me that he was saying all this stuff that the NFL as an organization might be worrying about was irrelevant in light of what had happened.
Just because people have been asking I will try to break down what apparently happened. Keep in mind that this is all speculation based on limited evidence. He is not my patient.
Based on the facts we know:
-He took a hit to the chest
-He was able to stand up but then collapsed and was reported to be in cardiac arrest
-He was given CPR immediately and was given an electric shock to restart his heart
-He had no prior known heart disease
-He is in critical condition and may have some lung injury
First of all, he was an elite athlete. I don’t know for sure but I would certainly suspect that he had been screened for obvious cardiac abnormalities with at least an EKG and an echocardiogram at some point so he is unlikely to have had any major undiagnosed prior cardiac issues. While undisclosed arrythmias can occur at any time, it is most likely that his condition was related to the tackle.
The fact that he was shocked means his heart had not stopped. The purpose of defibrillation/cardioversion is to take a person whose heart is beating erratically and temporarily stop it to try to resume a normal rhythm. This by report was successful. Therefore, we can probably assume a severe arrhythmia ( most likely ventricular fibrillation) either spontaneous or more likely related to the tackle.
What likely happened was that as a result of the hit, his heart was jolted into an irregular rhythm that did not give enough blood flow to the rest of the body. He would have had enough residual blood to the brain to stand up momentarily before passing out.This happens if the blow to the chest occurs at just the wrong point in the cardiac cycle ( R on T phenomenon).
The most likely etiology as noted above is commotio cordis. In this situation, a blow to the chest hits at just the wrong part of the cardiac cycle, causing an arrhythmia. This is most common in athletes, especially young men and is seen when a player is struck in the chest by a baseball, for example. This would be an atypical case because it usually occurs under age 20 and is usually related to being hit by a projectile. However, while atypical, it certainly fits the course of events.
Recovery from cardiac arrest in the field is notoriously poor although improving. Some recent estimates for eventual hospital discharge are up to 11% out of hospital and 25% in hospital if treated promptly by EMS. He has a high chance of survival given that he is young and presumably in good health prior.
However, up to 40% of survivors of cardiac arrest have long terms medical problems. Again, he is at low risk because he did not have known preexisting conditions, and he was resuscitated quickly. However, recovery of brain function depends not only on how quickly CPR was started but in how efficient it was. He was treated quickly and presumably by a well-trained team, meaning that he probably received early effective CPR which may have included rescue breathing as the team had more than one member and probably has access to a bag and mask device (for solo resuscitation, rescue breathing is no longer recommended since the emphasis is on chest compressions).
Finally, he is reported to have lung problems. This could be related to damage from the hit, or even from CPR (effective CPR can break ribs if done correctly).
Right now, he is likely being sedated and monitored. He may be on a ventilator, allowing his lungs some time to heal.
In terms of recovery, neurological recovery is a wait and see proposition. Early treatment means less time of brain hypoxia and less brain injury but we don’t know if he has underlying damage from years of football. His heart will need to be checked for evidence of any blockages and he will most likely end up with an implanted defibrillator in case this happens again.
Sorry, this is so long. Again, just my opinion based on the video and reports I have seen.
tl:dr https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/circep.111.962712
Wonder if the NFL gives any sort of long-term disability insurance to cover athletes who are injured badly enough that they cannot play again.
And would his medical be covered by workmen’s comp?
I wouldn’t have thought so since I thought they were 1099 contractors, not W2 employees, but this says they do. I didn’t look beyond the part where it said ‘yes’, so maybe there’s more to it, but the first thing it says is to call a worker’s comp attorney if you get hurt playing football.
How common is it?
I know I’ve heard of it happening from time to time. In fact, when I was in high school, someone I knew dropped dead right on the basketball court (if you’ve ever heard of Project Adam, he was Adam). But other than that, it seems pretty rare. OTOH, maybe it’s rare because of the AEDs and additional CPR training so many schools (and even malls and other public gathering spaces) have.
Thank you for the great, informative post!
there have been very horrific injuries on the field. it is expected in a collision sport. this was a 24 year old literally dropping dead on the field. very different.
the reporting that he was resuscitated on the field and again in the hospital is very concerning.
I wouldn’t have thought they were independent contractors because their employer absolutely controls where, when and how they work - an NFL player can’t just decide to skip this weeks game the way a professional golfer can choose which PGA events to participate in. Professional athletes in team sports do have contracts, but lots of employees have contracts.
And if they are employees, they would absolutely be covered by worker’s comp at a minimum, although the union contract could call for additional benefits.
Adding to psychobunny’s excellent post:
According to this article, NFL players before each season are supposed to get a general comprehensive medical exam including an EKG to evaluate the heart.
A potential problem is that the EKG can sometimes miss significant cardiac abnormalities, including rare conditions.
Whatever the diagnosis turns out to be, let’s hope Hamlin’s heart was restarted in time to avoid significant brain injury.
Update. Damar is on a vent and getting oxygen.
Hopefully there will be better news after he’s off the vent and awake.