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Leagues and Governing Bodies

NHL Doctor Critical Of Colleagues In Unsealed Concussion Lawsuit Documents

After months of fighting to prevent emails from Dr. Willem Meeuwisse and a team doctor being made public, the NHL yesterday "lost that battle" when a U.S. federal court judge "unsealed more than two dozen court exhibits including that email string," according to Rick Westhead of TSN.ca. In her judgment, U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson wrote that while the NHL objected to the unsealing of the emails about retired NHLer Martin Havlat, "citing a chilling effect on deliberations regarding medical issues," the league failed "to present compelling reasons to overcome the presumption of public access to (the emails about Havlat's injury and return to play)." Lawyers for a group of former players suing the NHL in a concussion lawsuit said that the doctor's "candid comments are evidence that even some physicians within the NHL's own medical community feel conflicted about the pressure that players and their doctors face about returning to action after head injuries." Westhead noted the unsealed documents are the "latest set of emails and records that have been opened to public scrutiny since the NHL concussion litigation began" in '13. Havlat returned to the ice for Game 4 of the '09 Western Conference final, just two days after he had been "knocked unconscious." The team doctor wrote in an email to Meeuwisse, a member of the NHL's Concussion Working Group, "I am once again disappointed in my colleagues in the (National Hockey League Team Physicians Society). We all sit around and talk and talk about concussion management. Then it's the playoffs, someone suffers an obvious loss of consciousness and is back playing in less than 48 hours."

SENT TO THE PENALTY BOX: The unsealed court exhibits include an email string following an incident during the '10-11 season when former NHL referee Kerry Fraser "appeared on TSN and criticized the league's discipline" over Rangers C Derek Stepan's elbowing then-Capitals D Mike Green. Fraser sent an email to a "group of 39 medical researchers." After the emails were forwarded to them, NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly sent an email to NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman. Among the details:
*Daly: "I'm not sure there is anything we can do or should be doing, but I wanted you to be aware." 
*Bettman replied, "Are we still paying him anything?"
*Daly answered, "Yes, his severance. But I'm not sure we can stop paying him for expressing views critical of the League."
*Bettman: "It wouldn't be nice but maybe he should understand it's not nice to bite the hand that feeds you. Please have someone check to see if there are any grounds to withhold."

 Westhead noted many of the emails and records unsealed by the court "go back a decade" (TSN.ca, 3/28).

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