Concussion movie answer sheet: Q1. What was Bennet Omalu’s profession? A forensic Pathologist. Q2. How did Bennet Omalu first find out about CTE? First identified Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) during an autopsy of a former NFL football player (Mike Webster). Q3. What did Bennet Omalu believe the cause of CTE to be? Omalu was the first person to discover actual evidence linking football related brain injuries (e.g. concussions and head buts), and dementia. CTE is a progressive brain condition that's thought to be caused by repeated blows to the head and repeated episodes of concussion. It's particularly associated with contact sports, such as boxing or American football. Q4. What examples of the effect of CTE on players did you notice throughout the movie? Memory Loss, Confusion, Personality changes (suicidal thoughts and depression), brain tells them to do crazy things like drink anti-freeze (suicide), Erratic Behaviour (e.g. aggression, violence to loved ones and people trying to help them even though they didn’t want to hurt them they couldn’t control their emotions), loss of attention span and flustered thoughts, difÏculty balancing and motor skill execution. Q5. What were the reactions to Bennets’ findings? a) Colleagues at his work: Knew it was true, however, didn’t want to believe it. Ended up being relatively supportive anyway. b) Scientists at the hospital: Somewhat supportive, however, didn’t agree with some of his methods and wanted the “quick fix” c) NFL: Players were unknown to the disease as the team running the publicity side of things kept sheltering them from it as they did not want to ruin NFL’s reputation. d) Families of NFL players: Very supportive, donating their oved ones to science. They just wanted answers as to why their loved one committed suicide. 1 Q6. The NFL invited Bennet Omalu to a panel discussion. What happened there? They said he could speak at the event, however, ended up cancelling on him and letÝng the other exNFL player speak on behalf of Omalu. Then once the conference was over, they stated he has no evidence currently in the NFL filed (mostly just seen in boxing- dementia and beh. Changes). Basically, disregarding his findings Infront of the media. Q7. Why did the NFL its opinion towards Bennet’s findings at the end of the movie? The NFL changed the way that they handled concussions, they got new doctors to head their research of CTE and they donated $1million to Dr. McKee’s laboratory in Boston. 3.      In 2011 retired NFL players began suing the League for concealing the dangers of concussions (over 5000 sued) The NFL settled on the condition that it wouldn’t have to disclose what it knew and when about the effects of concussions on football players. Actuaries hired by the NFL have concluded that 28% of all professional players will suffer from serious cognitive impairments inc. CTE. All federal charges against Dr. Cyril Wercht were dismissed. In feb. 2015, Dr. Bennet Omalu became a citizen o USA 2