NFL shooting highlights battle to reduce brain injury in sport
A New York Police Department (NYPD) officer at the scene of a shooting at 345 Park Ave. in New York. Picture: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images
I am a doctor who researches the links between rugby and brain injury so I was ghoulishly interested in the shootings targeted at the Manhattan headquarters of the National Football League recently. The shooter, Shane Tamura, did not play professional sport but he did play American football in high school and he was carrying a note that appeared to blame the NFL for a degenerative brain disease he said he had.
We will possibly never know whether there was a link between Tamura’s mental illness and the sport he played but we do know that the NFL has paid out an estimated $1bn to settle concussion-related lawsuits with thousands of retired players after the deaths of several high-profile players.
