When it comes to disclosing injury information, the NFL has struggled at times to strike the right balance. To create a sense of transparency (and in turn to discourage gamblers from pursuing inside information by cozying up to players, coaches, and other team employees), the NFL has developed an injury-reporting system far more complex than, for example, hockey’s upper-body/lower-body shell game. But the individual NFL teams would prefer to keep as much of that information as secret as possible, to protect players from being targeted and to achieve a strategic edge.
Caught in the middle are the players, who often find themselves being criticized for playing poorly when trying to play through an injury that was either unknown or understated. Still, many players would like to keep it secret, in order to keep an opponent from hitting, poking, and/or kicking the injured region.
The balance became more complicated this week, when ESPN’s Adam Schefter not only reported that Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul was having a finger amputated but also posted on Twitter an image of the medical record. As noted by Bernie Augustine of the New York Daily News, multiple players reacted negatively to the release of a player’s medical records.
On one hand, the record merely confirmed what had been reported. On the other hand, many saw it as unnecessary, gratuitous, and more than a little over the top.
Even though the HIPAA laws apply only to health-care providers, the mere existence of HIPAA has created a greater expectation among the public that medical records will be kept secret -- even if the actual information contained in them is otherwise fair game.
If only one player is reasonably miffed about ESPN’s maneuver, it’s all the more reason to not post the medical record. Whether Schefter wanted to avoid any short-term questions about the accuracy of the report or whether he was just showing off, there was much more to lose than there was to gain by doing it.
The depth of the hole won’t be known until the dust settles on the hospital’s internal investigation regarding how the document was leaked and any litigation arising from the breach of Pierre-Paul’s privacy rights. Some lawyers will simply sue everyone, alleging violations of Florida privacy laws and forcing the hospital and ESPN to battle it out -- which could raise the question of whether ESPN would direct Schefter to disclose his source in order to avoid or minimize liability.
Much of how this plays out depends on whether Pierre-Paul decides to push the issue in court. Whether he does that could depend at least in part on feedback he gets from other NFL players regarding whether it makes sense to launch a fight of this nature. Based on the early reactions from several players, Pierre-Paul could find plenty of other NFL players who invoke the wisdom of Doug Llewelyn.