It would have been better to just say “no.”

Last week two young men died on the football field.  One known epileptic; another from some kind of cardiac accident.  Both had presumably passed some kind of medical clearance including a physical examination, signatures from parents, whatever.

In my day, which was not over thirty years ago, I heard about those diagnosed with epilepsy not playing football.  After all, people who have an alteration of consciousness such as epilepsy are held from driving cars, as they could lose control and the car could kill others, as well as themselves. Seems to me that people who had that capacity might not be ideal candidates for a full body contact sport. How long seizure-free is long enough? What kind of seizure?  There are all kinds of possible questions.  Hats off to ABC Good Morning America where the questions were asked, how do things like this happen? Both parents and kids want the chance at sports and may be minimizing symptoms. Read more on Choose Life Over Football…