Like the Department of Veterans Affairs (“the VA”), the NFL has eloquently side-stepped the effects of brain trauma caused my massive or repeated concussive events.

In a most disturbing study, the Journal of the American Medical Association has concluded that “110 of 111 NFL players were found to have chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or C.T.E., the degenerative disease believed to be caused by repeated blows to the head.”

This should come as no surprise to most anyone who has followed repeated denials by NFL officials and team owners that repeated concussive events on the field of play lead to permanent brain damage.

Why?  The liability is simply too great and public outcry might hurt the lucrative revenue stream of the NFL, which is currently exempt from antitrust laws thanks to the largesse of Congress.

Personally, I don’t believe that the risk of brain injury will deter rabid fans from attending college or NFL games anymore than residents of Rome passed up an opportunity to attend a bloody spectacle at the colosseum.

Nevertheless, there is a strong grassroots effort to cut back on football programs for young children.  A recent news report from Tampa, Florida highlights the dilemma faced by parents whose 9 and 10 year-old children want to play contact football.

NFL Players and our Military Heroes

While NFL players have the opportunity to walk away from the sport they dearly love, the brave men and women who serve in our armed forces don’t have quite the same options.

More to the point, Veterans suffering from from PTSD and TBI have few possibilities given the VA’s limited menu of therapy options: Prolonged Exposure (PE) and Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT).   As the VA acknowledges, neither of these therapies has produced significant improvements in the well-being of Veterans.

To mask the their failure in treating PTSD and TBI, the VA has resorted to potent prescription drugs with unsettling side-effects.   In effect, treating PTSD and TBI has largely been a “loss loss” for Veterans with equally devastating results on their families.

What the VA and the NFL have in common is a culture of arrogance and denial based on a concerted and prolonged effort to hide the truth from those it purports to serve and protect.   In effect, the VA has told Veterans that “it is the VA way or the highway.”

Sadly, far too many Veterans have opted for the highway.

Dr. David Cifu and the Culture of Doom

Nowhere is this arrogance of the VA more manifest than in the pompous and self-serving performance by Dr. David Cifu, a consultant for the VA on PTSD and TBI, at a 2016 Congressional subcommittee:

Scholars in attendance were revolted by Dr. Cifu’s anecdotal and silly justification for why the VA’s policies and procedures for treating PTSD and TBI are so far out of touch with the latest scientific research.

Sadly, Dr. Cifu’s opinions reflect entrenched attitudes at the VA and deprive tens of thousands of brave Veterans the treatment they deserve to combat this debilitating injury.

While Dr. David Shulkin is cleaning house at the VA, he would do well to look at those like Dr. Cifu to determine if they are up to the task in reestablishing the credibility of the VA.

Veterans that talk to SFTT believe that the VA is useless in helping to address their problems with PTSD and TBI.