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Researchers: Aaron Hernandez Had the Worst Case of CTE Ever Seen in an Athlete So Young
Aaron Hernandez's brain shows signs [npr.org] of chronic traumatic encephalopathy [wikipedia.org] (CTE) with a severity beyond anything experts have ever seen in an athlete his age:
The Boston researcher who examined the brain of former football star Aaron Hernandez says it showed the most damage her team had seen in an athlete so young.
Hernandez, whose on-field performance for the New England Patriots earned him a $40 million contract in 2012, hanged himself [npr.org] in a prison cell earlier this year while serving a life sentence for murder. He was 27 years old.
Dr. Ann McKee, a neuropathologist who directs research of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, at Boston University, said her research team found Hernandez had Stage 3 CTE and that they had never seen such severe damage in a brain younger than 46 years old. McKee announced her findings at medical conference on Thursday in Boston where she spoke publicly for the first time.
The researchers described the brain [usatoday.com] as one of the most significant contributions to their work due to the former athlete's young age at the time of his death. Also at the Boston Herald [bostonherald.com].
In other news, a lawsuit by the estate of Aaron Hernandez (filed while Hernandez was alive) against a prison phone service has been thrown out [bostonherald.com]:
The identity of a hacker who accessed jailhouse conversations between Aaron Hernandez and his fiancee while he was awaiting trial will likely never be revealed now that a judge has spiked the former Patriot's lawsuit against the phone service hired to record and store non-privileged calls.
Suffolk Superior Court Judge Helene Kazanjian entered her judgment Monday allowing Texas-based Securus Technologies Inc.'s motions to dismiss Hernandez's complaint. It was initially filed in federal court last year, five months before Hernandez hanged himself in his cell at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley. Hernandez's estate was pushing forward with the civil action.
Did American football create a murderer and drive him to suicide?
Previously: NFL Acknowledges Link Between American Football and CTE [soylentnews.org]
Ailing NFL Players' Brains Show Signs of Neurodegenerative Disease [soylentnews.org]
Former Football Star Aaron Hernandez's Brain Found to Have Severe CTE [soylentnews.org]
