NBA Creating Medical Panel To Settle Life-And-Death Cases

[RealGM Wiretap]

The NBA's new labor deal will create an independent medical panel to settle life-and-death cases.

When a player is declared medically "unfit" to play, his case can be referred to the panel by his team, by the league or by the players association.

If the panel determines the player has a life-threatening condition, they can bar him from resuming his playing career. Conversely, if the panel determines the player can play then the team must allow him to, trade him or waive him within a set period of time.

The panel's decisions will be final and binding on all parties.

Chris Bosh and the Miami Heat are currently in a stalemate that would benefit from the existence of such a panel. Because his condition predates the new labor deal, Bosh will be exempt from the new protocols. But Bosh can initiate the process and could even do before it takes effect on July 1st.

Via Howard Beck/Bleacher Report

[12footrim]

I assume this "Medical" Panel will be made up of independent doctors. It could still get very political with millions of dollars hanging in the balance and blood on your hands if you let them play.

[vxmike]

I assume this "Medical" Panel will be made up of independent doctors. It could still get very political with millions of dollars hanging in the balance and blood on your hands if you let them play.

Panels like this are never truly independent. People will always have connections and be influenced somehow.

[mastermixer]

I assume this "Medical" Panel will be made up of independent doctors. It could still get very political with millions of dollars hanging in the balance and blood on your hands if you let them play.

Panels like this are never truly independent. People will always have connections and be influenced somehow.

Agreed, hopefully the panel will only be used once every 30 years or so.

[ciueli]

Doctors tend to be very conservative about these kinds of things. It doesn't look good if they say someone is healthy and then that person dies or suffers complications soon after. Ultimately, they are putting their reputation at stake and it's much safer for them to say no because there are no consequences if they're wrong. What I'm saying is that I'm not sure there will ever be an unbiased panel, regardless of outside influence.

[NashtyNas]

Nice formal way of the NBA dealing with an issue that has unfortunately come up repeatedly in the past decade.
Darius Miles, Brandon Roy, Chris Bosh... it's just sad.
Their teams will always want these guys to not play a game again because so much $ is involved.
Other teams will always want to try to get these guys because it's low risk, high reward - and at worst you're putting the money back on that teams books and hampering their flexibility if he plays 10+ games.

[eddie jerel]

This is a nice idea,but WHO pays usually gets the Decision they want. Then, there are always MDs that will oppose decision especially European ones. So when a Team gets a favorable ruling they shouldn't get Cap Relief for 1 yr. The Panel should also try to get the Top MDs,in what ever Field/injury Player has,since they would know injury/Disease being investigated.

[gom]

Nice formal way of the NBA dealing with an issue that has unfortunately come up repeatedly in the past decade.
Darius Miles, Brandon Roy, Chris Bosh... it's just sad.
Their teams will always want these guys to not play a game again because so much $ is involved.
Other teams will always want to try to get these guys because it's low risk, high reward - and at worst you're putting the money back on that teams books and hampering their flexibility if he plays 10+ games.

25+

[NashtyNas]

Nice formal way of the NBA dealing with an issue that has unfortunately come up repeatedly in the past decade.
Darius Miles, Brandon Roy, Chris Bosh... it's just sad.
Their teams will always want these guys to not play a game again because so much $ is involved.
Other teams will always want to try to get these guys because it's low risk, high reward - and at worst you're putting the money back on that teams books and hampering their flexibility if he plays 10+ games.

25+

AFAIK, in the previous CBA the rule was more than 10 games.
I'm not sure that's changing in the new CBA.
Even if it is, Bosh would be exempt from the rule change and therefore only needs to play 11 games for another team for the money to be put back on Miami's books.

[gom]

Nice formal way of the NBA dealing with an issue that has unfortunately come up repeatedly in the past decade.
Darius Miles, Brandon Roy, Chris Bosh... it's just sad.
Their teams will always want these guys to not play a game again because so much $ is involved.
Other teams will always want to try to get these guys because it's low risk, high reward - and at worst you're putting the money back on that teams books and hampering their flexibility if he plays 10+ games.

25+

AFAIK, in the previous CBA the rule was more than 10 games.
I'm not sure that's changing in the new CBA.
Even if it is, Bosh would be exempt from the rule change and therefore only needs to play 11 games for another team for the money to be put back on Miami's books.

If the injury exclusion is granted, the player's salary is removed from the team salary immediately.

If the player later "proves the doctors wrong" and resumes his career, then his salary is returned to the team salary when he plays in his 25th game1 in any one season, for any team. This allows a player to attempt to resume his career without affecting his previous team unless his comeback is ultimately successful. If the 25th game was a playoff game, then the player's salary is returned to the cap effective on the date of the team's last regular season game (i.e., the returned salary counts toward the luxury tax).

http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q63

Also, for a full rundown:

http://heathoops.com/2016/09/pat-riley-says-chris-boshs-career-is-probably-over/

As you can see from my profile pic, I'm a huge fan of Bosh, but I care more about him living and being a father to his 5 kids than helping our team win games. It's a sad situation, but at least his salary is guaranteed.

Read on Twitter

[NashtyNas]

25+

AFAIK, in the previous CBA the rule was more than 10 games.
I'm not sure that's changing in the new CBA.
Even if it is, Bosh would be exempt from the rule change and therefore only needs to play 11 games for another team for the money to be put back on Miami's books.

If the injury exclusion is granted, the player's salary is removed from the team salary immediately.

If the player later "proves the doctors wrong" and resumes his career, then his salary is returned to the team salary when he plays in his 25th game1 in any one season, for any team. This allows a player to attempt to resume his career without affecting his previous team unless his comeback is ultimately successful. If the 25th game was a playoff game, then the player's salary is returned to the cap effective on the date of the team's last regular season game (i.e., the returned salary counts toward the luxury tax).

http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q63

Also, for a full rundown:

http://heathoops.com/2016/09/pat-riley-says-chris-boshs-career-is-probably-over/

As you can see from my profile pic, I'm a huge fan of Bosh, but I care more about him living and being a father to his 5 kids than helping our team win games. It's a sad situation, but at least his salary is guaranteed.

Read on Twitter

Ahh, fair enough. It got changed in the *last* CBA from 10 to 25, not in this upcoming one.
Makes sense.

Regarding Bosh, I agree with you. However, I think Chris Bosh has his own best interests at heart more so than you, me or anyone else for that matter. If he so desperately wants to play, either he's confident that he's safe, or he's a fool going against his doctors' advice. I've seen nothing throughout the past ~15 years that makes me think for a second that Chris Bosh is a fool, so I'll believe that he can play if he thinks he can play.

He has everything to lose if something goes wrong. I think he knows that better than any of us, don't you?
He's getting the $ either way, so that clearly can't be his motivation.

[gom]

Spoiler:

AFAIK, in the previous CBA the rule was more than 10 games.
I'm not sure that's changing in the new CBA.
Even if it is, Bosh would be exempt from the rule change and therefore only needs to play 11 games for another team for the money to be put back on Miami's books.

If the injury exclusion is granted, the player's salary is removed from the team salary immediately.

If the player later "proves the doctors wrong" and resumes his career, then his salary is returned to the team salary when he plays in his 25th game1 in any one season, for any team. This allows a player to attempt to resume his career without affecting his previous team unless his comeback is ultimately successful. If the 25th game was a playoff game, then the player's salary is returned to the cap effective on the date of the team's last regular season game (i.e., the returned salary counts toward the luxury tax).

http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q63

Also, for a full rundown:

http://heathoops.com/2016/09/pat-riley-says-chris-boshs-career-is-probably-over/

As you can see from my profile pic, I'm a huge fan of Bosh, but I care more about him living and being a father to his 5 kids than helping our team win games. It's a sad situation, but at least his salary is guaranteed.

Read on Twitter

Ahh, fair enough. It got changed in the *last* CBA from 10 to 25, not in this upcoming one.
Makes sense.

Regarding Bosh, I agree with you. However, I think Chris Bosh has his own best interests at heart more so than you, me or anyone else for that matter. If he so desperately wants to play, either he's confident that he's safe, or he's a fool going against his doctors' advice. I've seen nothing throughout the past ~15 years that makes me think for a second that Chris Bosh is a fool, so I'll believe that he can play if he thinks he can play.

He has everything to lose if something goes wrong. I think he knows that better than any of us, don't you?
He's getting the $ either way, so that clearly can't be his motivation.

They also used to count preseason and exhibition games.

About Chris:

My thoughts are he is willing to disregard the risk. When we are young we are immortal.

Also, Chris is no doubt worrying if he's done enough to get into the Hall of Fame. If he can find a competitive club where he can come off the bench enough, even if it's just during the playoffs and finals, to make it to another ring or two, it would assure him of induction. In my mind he's done enough already, but I'm a homer.

[NashtyNas]

Spoiler:

http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q63

Also, for a full rundown:

http://heathoops.com/2016/09/pat-riley-says-chris-boshs-career-is-probably-over/

As you can see from my profile pic, I'm a huge fan of Bosh, but I care more about him living and being a father to his 5 kids than helping our team win games. It's a sad situation, but at least his salary is guaranteed.

Read on Twitter

Ahh, fair enough. It got changed in the *last* CBA from 10 to 25, not in this upcoming one.
Makes sense.

Regarding Bosh, I agree with you. However, I think Chris Bosh has his own best interests at heart more so than you, me or anyone else for that matter. If he so desperately wants to play, either he's confident that he's safe, or he's a fool going against his doctors' advice. I've seen nothing throughout the past ~15 years that makes me think for a second that Chris Bosh is a fool, so I'll believe that he can play if he thinks he can play.

He has everything to lose if something goes wrong. I think he knows that better than any of us, don't you?
He's getting the $ either way, so that clearly can't be his motivation.

They also used to count preseason and exhibition games.

About Chris:

My thoughts are he is willing to disregard the risk. When we are young we are immortal.

Also, Chris is no doubt worrying if he's done enough to get into the Hall of Fame. If he can find a competitive club where he can come off the bench enough, even if it's just during the playoffs and finals, to make it to another ring or two, it would assure him of induction. In my mind he's done enough already, but I'm a homer.

He's past that age. Has been for years. He's also one of the smarter NBA players unlike the Antoine Walker's and Allen Iverson's. No disrespect to either of them, but Chris is a bright dude and he's got a good head on his shoulder.

I just can't buy that "he's willing to disregard the risk" of him dying from serious clot due to stepping on the court again.
That's not something anyone sane takes lightly regardless of age, IMO.

[gom]

He's past that age. Has been for years. He's also one of the smarter NBA players unlike the Antoine Walker's and Allen Iverson's. No disrespect to either of them, but Chris is a bright dude and he's got a good head on his shoulder.

I just can't buy that "he's willing to disregard the risk" of him dying from serious clot due to stepping on the court again.
That's not something anyone sane takes lightly regardless of age, IMO.

Chris is over 20 years younger than I am, but I remember how it was to be his age. Plus, he has confidence in the doctors on the regime of suspending the blood clot medicine so he can play. He thinks he'll be fine. In the new CBA (which won't pertain to his case, afaik) there is also a provision to release the doctors on the panel from suffering any damages. That kind of waiver is important to guarantee honest assessments. Currently, the club would be liable if Chris was injured while playing. So it's not just a humanitarian issue. There are legal consequences.

So, with that in mind, what if you REALLY, REALLY, REALLY want to play basketball and win games? And, now, the question for any team is what do you do? What if you play him and he has a complication? Will your franchise ever live it down?

I really see both sides, but LIFE>BASKETBALL. (just barely, but it is)

It just sucks. That's how life is sometimes.

[NashtyNas]

He's past that age. Has been for years. He's also one of the smarter NBA players unlike the Antoine Walker's and Allen Iverson's. No disrespect to either of them, but Chris is a bright dude and he's got a good head on his shoulder.

I just can't buy that "he's willing to disregard the risk" of him dying from serious clot due to stepping on the court again.
That's not something anyone sane takes lightly regardless of age, IMO.

Chris is over 20 years younger than I am, but I remember how it was to be his age. Plus, he has confidence in the doctors on the regime of suspending the blood clot medicine so he can play. He thinks he'll be fine. In the new CBA (which won't pertain to his case, afaik) there is also a provision to release the doctors on the panel from suffering any damages. That kind of waiver is important to guarantee honest assessments. Currently, the club would be liable if Chris was injured while playing. So it's not just a humanitarian issue. There are legal consequences.

So, with that in mind, what if you REALLY, REALLY, REALLY want to play basketball and win games? And, now, the question for any team is what do you do? What if you play him and he has a complication? Will your franchise ever live it down?

I really see both sides, but LIFE>BASKETBALL. (just barely, but it is)

It just sucks. That's how life is sometimes.

He's not bound by the new CBA, but he can provoke it if need be. So he gets the best of both worlds.
What that tells me is that if he wants to play, and the doctors in the tribunal (with immunity) are confident enough that it's safe, he will play again. That's all there is to it, really. If those 2 criteria met (one of which we know is for certain - Bosh wants to play), there will be a team that signs him.