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By Mark Starr
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It seemed to be cause for celebration: Tedy Bruschi, defensive centerpiece of three New England Patriots Super Bowl championships, returned to practice last week eight months after a stroke that threatened to end his career (and seven months after surgery to repair a hole in his heart). But some observers are greeting his comeback with considerable consternation. Though Bruschi, 32, says his medical team was unanimous in clearing him to play, and the Patriots insist that the final decision rested with "Bruschi and his family," prominent ex-NFLers decried the return as too perilous. Even the response of rabid Pats fans was muted. "People are wondering, 'Why risk it?' " says Gerry Callahan, cohost of WEEI's popular morning sports talk show. "We all thought he was smarter than that." Bruschi told reporters, "I'm living life one day at a time right now. I'm very fortunate that I'm still able to play the game that I love."
Bostonians have an acute sensitivity to such issues. Twelve years ago Boston Celtics captain Reggie Lewis collapsed and died while shooting baskets with a friend. A medical "dream team" had diagnosed a life-threatening heart condition, but Lewis, 27, sought--and got--a second, contradictory opinion that allowed him to pursue his career. His death stands as a tragic reminder of the ethics complexities that arise when the worlds of sports and medicine intersect.
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Bruschi's case, however, seems straightforward when compared with that of New York Knicks center Eddy Curry. Curry, 22, had two "episodes" while playing for the Chicago Bulls last year, the second an irregular heartbeat that sidelined him for the final months of the season. While doctors gave him the go-ahead to play this year, Chicago management balked at signing him to a contract extension until he took a DNA test that could disclose a predisposition to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a heart-muscle disease that can cause sudden death in athletes. (Such concerns have only been amplified since Atlanta Hawks center Jason Collier, 28, died Oct. 15, and medical examiners are focusing on a heart abnormality as the potential cause.) Curry refused the test, asserting his right to privacy. The Bulls then traded him to New York, where he signed a six-year, $56 million contract.
New York law prohibits genetic testing as a condition for employment. And medical ethicists say that, absent a clear consensus, athletes should be entitled to make their own decisions, since only their own lives are at stake. "This isn't like a case of a pilot where others might be put at risk," says Dr.Michael Grodin, director of medical ethics at Boston University Medical School. But the athletes' own families--and thousands of fans--might ask them to be careful.
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