{"id":695,"date":"2010-06-29T11:14:59","date_gmt":"2010-06-29T17:14:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/waiting.com\/blog\/?p=695"},"modified":"2010-06-29T11:14:59","modified_gmt":"2010-06-29T17:14:59","slug":"chris-henry-and-tbi-would-dr-house-have-diagnosed-brain-injury-in-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/waiting.com\/blog\/2010\/06\/chris-henry-and-tbi-would-dr-house-have-diagnosed-brain-injury-in-time.html","title":{"rendered":"Chris Henry and TBI: Would Dr. House have Diagnosed Brain Injury in Time?"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
\r\n

Brain injury is a condition that involves microscopic damage to brain tissue that can only be seen in life through the lens of the patterns of the injured person\u2019s life.\u00a0 Chris Henry, the former NFL wide receiver whose autopsy results confirmed he was living with brain damage, may have finally made that clear.\u00a0 See yesterday\u2019s bloghttps:\/\/waiting.com\/blog\/2010\/06\/former-nfl-player-henrys-autopsy-reveals-evidence-of-brain-damage.html<\/a> Mike Wilbon of Espn’s PTI (http:\/\/espn.go.com\/espnradio\/show?showId=pti<\/a>) called the Henry story the most important sports story of the day and even went so far as to say that because of this story, his two year old child would never play football.\u00a0 This story is important not just because it warns us of the dangers of playing football, but because it tells us we must think \u201cbrain injury\u201d when looking at the patterns of troubled people\u2019s lives.\u00a0 This story also tells us that it is time that autopsy returned to head of the research class in understanding about all pathology, but especially that in the brain.<\/p>\r\n

Since I posted yesterday\u2019s blog, I have done some research on Chris Henry\u2019s life, not just to see the pattern of behavior issues, but also to see if anyone had ever considered a diagnosis of \u201cbrain damage\u201d at any time prior to his death. I could find no references to any physician, trainer, NFL official or commentator (including myself)\u00a0 ever suggesting that Henry was suffering from Post Concussion Syndrome.\u00a0 When doctors make a diagnosis, they should engage in something called a differential diagnosis, which involves a consideration of all the possible diseases.\u00a0 I always think of this as a Doctor House (from the TV series) process of putting diseases on a whiteboard, then crossing out the ones that don\u2019t fit.\u00a0 I strongly suspect that no doctor had ever put TBI on Chris Henry\u2019s whiteboard, or if they ever did, quickly dismissed it because there was no single concussion that he was treated for.<\/p>\r\n

Here (with the easy job of Monday morning quarterbacking the diagnosis) is how I picture Dr. House and his cast approaching the problem.\u00a0 It is the fall of 2009 and Henry is again asking Commissioner Goodell for reinstatement and Goodell orders a full assessment on Henry.\u00a0 Because Henry is such a special case, Goodell enlists the services of Dr. House. (If you are not familiar with the show, the cast and plot is explained here:\u00a0http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/House_%28TV_series%29<\/a> ) House pulls his team together and starts writing on the whiteboard the following potential conditions:<\/p>\r\n