Aaron Hernandez Suffered From CTE

Remember Aaron Hernandez, the standout football player at the University of Florida who played for the New England Patriots from 2010 to 2012? He was convicted of murder in 2015 and later hanged himself in his prison cell.

Now neuropathologists at Boston University have released his autopsy report. According to CNN News, the report indicates that Hernandez had the worst case of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) ever seen by BU pathologists in someone of his age. He was only 27 years old at the time of his death. Whether his behavior in the last few years of his life was related to the CTE is unknown.

There has been a lot of discussion lately about the effects of repeated head trauma, and how it might lead to CTE. The association between head trauma and CTE is so strong now that the NFL has set up a fund to provide up to five million dollars per retired player for medical expenses related to CTE. And there have been changes to the rules of football to try to reduce incidences of head trauma in current players. Nevertheless, CTE is likely to remain a problem for football for some time to come; Boston University pathologists have found evidence of CTE in nearly all of the brains of former NFL players that have been examined so far.

According to a USAToday news report, retired sportscaster Bob Costas predicts a decline in interest in the sport of football unless something is done to make it safe. It will be interesting to see whether he is right or wrong.