While we were all patting the NCAA on the back for liberalizing its transfer and redshirt rules yesterday, Maryland offensive lineman Jordan McNair, whose hospitalization from something that occurred during summer workouts I posted about recently, died.
Amazingly enough, that’s not what’s got my outrage meter in the red this morning. This is:
According to a GoFundMe page started to help raise money for his parents, Tonya and Marty, McNair received a liver transplant and was expected to be hospitalized for several months.
The goal of $20,000 already had been surpassed as of Wednesday afternoon.
This kid was terminally injured on the job — call it what you want, if that’s better for you — and the parents have to resort to GoFundMe instead of the school stepping up? Oh, wait.
The school said in a statement that counseling services would be provided to student-atheltes and staff.
You’re all heart, Terps.
Pardon my French, but that is some seriously fucked-up shit.
Get The Picture 
What is the gofundme page for exactly? It’s a serious question. Funeral costs? Medical bills?
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It was set up when he was in the hospital. As in, before he died. Because he needed a liver transplant.
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The article says it was set up “for the parents” – I assume that means so they could pay their bills while they weren’t working and instead were at the hospital with their son. If you or I were at the hospital all day with a loved-one or friend instead of working, regardless of the reason, our mortgage, electricity bill, car bill, etc. would still need to be paid.
NOTHING in the article (or on the GoFund Me page) indicates the GoFund Me is to pay medical expenses – the last time I checked, one of the requirements to enroll in college these days is that kids provide proof of health insurance which would cover the actual medical expenses and/or cost of the liver transplant (and as I’m sure you know, $20,000 wouldn’t be a drop in the bucket of the medical costs for a liver transplant).
I know its a lot to ask not to rush to judgments that confirm your pre-conceived notions on an internet comment site, but the outrage mob here really needs to tone it down a bit…
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Ugh … one step forward, five steps back. The NCAA’s rules are going to kill college sports before CTE and the lawyers do. I do wonder what legal recourse the family has against the university and the staff. The family probably signs away any legal protection in the letter of intent.
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Is it clear that the liver issue was caused by the summer workouts, or did the workouts somehow exacerbate a pre-existing condition? I’m not defending the University’s actions in any way, just asking a question.
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Does it matter?
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I’m guessing for liability reasons it probably matters a great deal. It also matters what the University knew or should have known. Do these kids go through medical exams before they’re sent out on the practice field for the first time each year? The kid was a sophomore right? So presumably he’d been through similar preseason workouts and a whole season of workouts before without issue. And there are, what? A hundred other players doing the same or similar workouts as this guy and they didn’t suffer terminal injuries.
I’m not saying that UMCP shouldn’t pay the family. At a minimum they should cover it as a donation without admitting any liability. If they were liable, then the family should take the University to the cleaners in a court of law. But there seem to be some pretty significant unanswered questions at this point.
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There are times when decency trumps fear of liability.
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Just trying to make sure I understand your position. Is it basically the fact that this kid was a part of the “Terp family” (or whatever they call it up here), his family needs serious financial assistance which the University could provide without a second thought, so why does the family have to seek help from a bunch of strangers via Gofundme? Or have I totally missed the point?
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My point exactly.
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“There are times when decency trumps fear of liability”….that’s a big 10-4!
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Look out Maryland. When lawyers start saying decency trumps liability you are about to be taken to the cleaners. Here is my free legal advice. Don’t say or admit anything. Try and settle quietly out of court. Its going to be expensive.
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UM is already ahead of you on that.
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Looks like Damon Evans has a chance to be in the news again. Let’s see if he steps up. And to those who are asking about the reason for the GoFundMe page, it doesn’t really matter. Maryland will likely have to pay after litigation so why not step up now?
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Probably because they’re waiting for the almost guaranteed lawsuit.
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Isn’t Damon Evans the AD for the Terps? He did know how to make bad situations worse.
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In a not so ‘apples-to-apples’ kind of way, I’ve often wondered why the UGAAA won’t step up and assist the Devon Gales family in their pursuit to fund the building of a handicap accessible home. We are nickel and dimeing (sic) the situation to death and are coming up several thousand dollars short. Anyone have a clue?
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My guess would be they are worried about setting a precedent. If they dip into the precious reserve fund for Gales, then they’ll have to do it for any other player that gets hurt at Sanford Stadium.
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Maybe you have seen something I haven’t but I have not seen anywhere where this was injury related. Could it not be that there was a preexisting condition? Maybe one that wasn’t discovered until now and maybe one that made it amazing he survived this length of time?
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Right. It was one of those weird coincidences that he was hospitalized after a summer workout. What are the odds on that happening, eh?
Is there anything a school does that you won’t excuse?
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Pete Maravich had an undiscovered heart condition. Most people with that condition don’t make it beyond their 20’s. Yet he went through the grueling seasons of the NBA for 10 years and later died in a pickup basketball game in his 50’s. But just Wednesday I went to visit relatives of someone with it that didn’t make it out of their twenty’s and they weren’t a jock.
Again I’m not pretending to know what and why therefore I’m not jumping to conclusions. Do you know something that has not been made public as of yet?
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I know nothing other than what I’ve read, but I’m not sure why it matters. The kid died as a result of a football workout. If you’re arguing the school bears no financial responsibility because an undiscovered medical condition, knock yourself out.
I’ll give you credit for consistency, if nothing else.
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I’m saying if he had an undiscovered medical condition the football workout may (and I emphasize the word may) have had nothing to do with it.
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I’m no physician, but liver failure isn’t one of those things that just happen like a heart condition. Most people whose livers fail because of disease are symptomatic prior to it becoming chronic and life-threatening. While there may be a chance the condition just happened to pop up in a workout and be unrelated, I find that to be extremely unlikely given the health screening every student-athlete receives now when he/she steps on campus.
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The type of condition, as you noted, indicates a prior condition. That could put the liability more on the physician(s) who missed this in team physicals, and other screenings. Unless the school put pressure on a doctor to cover up a dangerous condition, I would think the liability of the doctor is the one who pays. Doesn’t mean the school shouldn’t play a role in helping the family deal with this, but I doubt they, including coaches and trainers, have the expertise to spot this type of condition.
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Livers also die suddenly because of hyperthermia (high body temp – ie being left in a car or similar causes) **Not implying i have any info on his medical condition after the workout
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My point exactly … thanks, Doc. The existing undiagnosed condition argument makes zero sense.
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I know of a high school kid who died after a summer workout. While the workout contributed to his death, his undiagnosed heart condition was the reason he died. I don’t think the high school was any more responsible for his death than a college would be if the situation was the same. You assume some risk in life, there’s no way around it. I certainly feel terrible for any family that suffers the loss of someone so young, but looking for someone to blame when it’s a medical condition doesn’t sit well with me.
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You’re completely missing the point, unsurprisingly. It’s not about BLAME. It’s about taking care of people who you’re profiting off of. This isn’t a high school, it’s a D-1 school in a power 5 conference that rakes in more money then you’ll ever see in your lifetime.They do so because they’ve worked out lucrative contracts with TV networks who want to televise their players. One of their players is hospitalized from a workout, and rather then stepping in to help, the kids parents are having to start a gofundme to raise money to pay for his liver transplant. You think his parents’ cared about who was to blame when the doctor told them he needed a liver transplant that they couldn’t afford? They just needed to pay the bill, man. And it’s a sad fucking indictment of the cynicism of college athletics that they’ve turned the whole thing into a money making industry for themselves but a kid who gets sent to the hospital from workouts has to have a gofundme to pay for his medical bills.
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You may want to go back and do some re-reading. Then maybe watch the video on the GoFundMe page.
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You may want to check your pulse.
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Or not, whatever. You do you.
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LOL. I admire your passion and compulsion to protect the kid… but the gofundme page is not to pay for a liver transplant.
“Jordan’s recovery will be long. He will be in the hospital for several months and his parents deserve to be at his side throughout his recovery”
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You know what’s truly remarkable? The CEO of Centene earned a salary of $22million in 2016. Humana’s earned 19.7 mil. I think you’ve written more than a few pieces on how much money college AD’s are making. But here we are debating why some poor kid’s parents should just get stuck with the bill for his death that occurred while engaged in a sport that is designed to make money for those fuckers who work so hard at ways to avoid tossing any scraps off their table to the peasants working for them.
People are seriously fucked.
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Your stupidity? What does CEO compensation have to do with any of this?
The kids parents aren’t getting stuck with the hospital bill. People are debating how liable the university is for this kids likely pre-existing condition. If the school knew about his condition were they negligent? If they didn’t know then why and who is to blame. Don’t act outraged like you care about this kid and his family just to push your agenda.
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This was liver disease..usually a chronic situation and one that should have been disagnosed somewhere sooner. The death of this young man occurred during a transplant procedure..analysis? What happened during the operation?? Was it liver related? Heart? Surely an autopsy is required because of the death being questionable. Are the doctors involved in the liability? The hospital? You of the legal profession know of the many avenues of investigation into this death..and the resultant liability. Much more to come on this death, I’m sure.
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What a shitty, shitty, shitty way to behave, Maryland.
If a player is injured, even if it stems from a pre-existing condition…but has a chance at rehabilitation and seeing the field again..no expense is spared.
Every team that recruits against Maryland needs to use this.
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Seems way too premature for that type of reaction. It is more than a 50% chance Maryland is completely innocent of any wrongdoing, and that others had some degree of negligence. Why should we assume the university owes them money? Just because they have some Big 14 money?
Let’s hope we aren’t coming to that. I doubt anyone would feel the same way if were their family’s company. The idea of somebody paying just because they have some available cash is scary as hell. If the facts show Maryland’s staff was aware of a potential issue with this young man, and pushed him despite that knowledge, then they have some degree of liability and certainly should pay for that reckless negligence.
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Helluva take there, Mac.
If it turns out the school wasn’t at fault, maybe the parents should refund Maryland the money it spent on the kid this spring, since he won’t be contributing to the team this season.
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Maintain your objectivity here Counselor. People with assets shouldn’t treated any differently when it comes to culpability. Surely you don’t disagree with that, which is what I said.
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Mac, if you think the primary issue here is that Maryland has assets, you’ve badly missed the point.
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And I think you missed mine much more. But I tire of nonsense discussions. Suffice it to say I am one the side of the wrong should be punished, but it is wrong to punish the innocent. If that bothers you, we cannot have a discussion because it is too basic to my upbringing, and what I have found to be the way to decide right from wrong. I clearly said guilty parties should be held accountable and punished, but no evidence has been shown that Maryland officials knew, or should have known the young man had this condition. It was your words above that implied it was the timing of the fatal flare up made them liable, and that is just silly. Bring a case before me with that logic and I throw it out.
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The go fund me page was for the parents to be off work during recovery. Would the NCAA even permit to university to underwrite those expenses?
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That’s my point. This shouldn’t even be a question.
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These kids should have a FULL health screening including stress tests blood work etc when they step on campus and then should be fully insured by the university for whatever the hell happens to them or whatever sickness that befalls them much like a damn employee even though of course they aren’t employees (eye roll). Its the least they can fucking do
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As some have stated, just help your PR machine, Maryland. Sometimes, it is better to bite the $$$$ and pay. then again, that would be the decent thing to do.
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OMG. Unbelievable. Prayers of comfort for his family.
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I have not read anything about this case. Why are y’all talking about an undiagnosed pre condition? Undiagnosed liver disease was not necessary for this young man to have liver failure. Exertional heart stroke is caused by excess heat generated by muscular exercise that exceeds the body’s ability to dissipate it at the same rate. Potential complications of heat stroke include acute hepatic failure. Summer workouts could provide the perfect set up for this. I’ll leave it to you attorneys to decide who would be legally liable.
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“heat stroke”
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