How ‘race-norming’ was built into the NFL concussion settlement
By Will Hobson,
The Washington Post
| 08. 02. 2021
The NFL and lawyers for former players blame the controversial practice on doctors. But both sides negotiated a settlement that guaranteed race would affect payouts — and defended the practice long after concerns were raised.
Licensed for use by CC BY-SA 2.0 on Wikimedia Commons
CHANDLER, Ariz. — At first glance, Rick Cunningham looks almost as formidable at 54 as he did during his playing days.
As the 6-foot-7, 270-pound former offensive tackle led a visitor into his home recently, the only visible sign that eight seasons in the National Football League inflicted any lasting damage was Cunningham’s deliberate gait, caused by chronic pain in knees surgically repaired nine times and hips that need replacing.
Then Cunningham tried to speak. Thoughts form in his head, he explained, but he has trouble finding the words. He stammered often, sometimes relying on his wife, Debbie, to translate. At one point, he gestured toward a pool table and explained — in a belabored, meandering way — that he couldn’t remember what to call the wooden pole resting across it.
“It’s a pool cue, hon,” Debbie said as she gently held his arm.
When the settlement in the landmark NFL class-action concussion litigation was finalized in 2017, and the league agreed to pay sums as high as $5...
Related Articles
Since the “CRISPR babies” scandal in 2018, no additional genetically modified babies are known to have been born. Now several techno-enthusiastic billionaires are setting up privately funded companies to genetically edit human embryos, with the explicit intention of creating genetically modified children.
Heritable genome editing remains prohibited by policies in the overwhelming majority of countries that have any relevant policy, and by a binding European treaty. Support for keeping it legally off limits is widespread, including among scientists...
By Angus Liu, Fierce Pharma | 06.16.2025
A second patient has died following treatment with Sarepta Therapeutics’ Elevidys, raising more doubts about the Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) gene therapy’s safety profile.
Sarepta and its ex-U.S. partner Roche reported the death early Sunday. Like the first case, disclosed...
By Sophie Alexander and Ike Swetlitz, Bloomberg | 06.25.2025
A California-startup focused on genetically editing human embryos — a step toward creating so-called designer babies — is raising money as many of Silicon Valley’s ultra-rich turn their attention to one of the most controversial technologies in medicine.
Bootstrap Bio...
