The catastrophe of Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin on ESPN's "Monday Night Football," which caused the unprecedented suspension of an NFL game, brought home for a national TV audience the variegated harms of America's most popular sport. (At this writing, Hamlin is in critical condition in a Cincinnati hospital. He reportedly had to be resuscitated twice, first on the field and later at the hospital.)
Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest after a blow to the chest while making a fairly routine tackle. It may have been caused by a condition called commotio cordis. Doctors are still assessing whether there were other contributing factors for Hamlin. Similar cardiac events have taken the lives of at least 12 football players at all levels, according to data assembled by Scott Anderson, the retired head athletic trainer of the University of Oklahoma's football team. The most recent was Michael T. Ellsessar, a 16-year-old high school player in Sutton, Massachusetts, in 2010.
