Concussion; the story of the Nigerian doctor who changed American Football
The 2015 film Concussion, which is nominated for an MTV Movie Award in the true story category, stars Will Smith as Dr. Bennet Omalu, a pathologist who becomes embroiled in a battle with the NFL after his research indicates that a football career can lead to lasting brain damage.
Bennet Ifeakandu Omalu (born September 1968) is a Nigerian-American physician, forensic pathologist, and neuropathologist who was the first to discover and publish findings of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in American football players while working at the Allegheny County Coroner’s Office in Pittsburgh.
Omalu’s discovery of CTE raised numerous concerns about the safety of American football, a development that the National Football League, NFL, challenged vigorously. For years, though, the NFL tried its best to hide the evidence about football and brain trauma, and after Omalu published his findings, the NFL attempted to cover the facts and accused him of fraud and practicing voodoo.
According to report by Hollywood film makers; As we investigated the Concussion true story, we learned that the real Bennet Omalu thought that the NFL doctors would be pleased with his findings and that the league would use his research to try and correct the concussion problem.
“I was naive,” Omalu admits. “There are times I wish I never looked at Mike Webster’s brain. It has dragged me into worldly affairs I do not want to be associated with. Human meanness, wickedness, and selfishness. People trying to cover up, to control how information is released. I started this not knowing I was walking into a minefield. That is my only regret.” -GQ
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