08/20/2024

NFL Settlement Ignores ‘Critical’ Tests as Denials Mount

Basic tools still aren’t being used to help former NFL players in crisis

When Chuck Arrobio's memory began to falter, he seemed like an ideal candidate for one of the more innovative benefits of the National Football League's (NFL) landmark concussion settlement.

A Minnesota Viking for just one season, 1966, Arrobio worked for decades after football as a dentist. But before he retired in 2016, he displayed alarming signs of cognitive decline. On a few occasions, Arrobio's assistants narrowly prevented him from filling the wrong tooth or numbing the wrong side of a patient's mouth.

A neuropsychologist diagnosed Arrobio with dementia in 2017, his medical records show, and speculated the cause was chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), the brain disease linked to football. The devastating news came with some consolation: The NFL's concussion settlement, years in the making, had finally taken effect, promising care and payments into the millions for former players suffering from dementia and CTE.

Please select this link to read the complete article from The Washington Post.