Aaron Hernandez Found with Severe Case of C.T.E
Former football player for the New England Patriots, Aaron Hernandez, who had committed suicide this past April while serving a life sentence for murder, found to have a severe case of C.T.E (chronic traumatic encephalopathy). Hernandez hanged himself five days after being acquitted in of the 2012 murder of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado. C.T.E is a neurodegenerative disease linked to bruising hits to the head on the football field.
This breaking news was found after Boston University studied his brain, after Hernandez’s family donated it. Aaron was found to have had the second most sever form of the disease and one of the most advanced cases seen for Aaron’s age (27).
These findings prompted a lawsuit on the NFL and Aaron’s former team, New England Patriots, on behalf of Aaron’s daughter. The lawsuit does not link Hernandez’s crimes to the disease, although the disease is associated with depression, aggressiveness, erratic behavior, suicidal thoughts and other cognitive issues. In the other hand the lawsuit does state he “succumbed to the symptoms of CTE and committed suicide.
Currently, CTE could only be found once an autopsy is done, but the lawsuit states that the Patriots failed to recognized signs of cognitive impairment during preseason exams done on Aaron. One of the complaints was that the NFL was “fully aware of the damage that could be inflicted from repetitive impact injuries and failed to disclose, treat or protect him from the dangers of such damage,”.
Aaron Hernandez is one of the many cases of football players to have killed and killed themselves, to later on be found with CTE.
