Jarvis Johnson will not be medically cleared to play

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station19 said:
From the comment section:

bigrobby24
JUN. 17, 15
9:05 AM
I personally find this story very odd. As a physician, I have performed numerous sports physical exams, particularly in medical school during my Pediatrics and Family Medicine rotations. Essentially, the only diagnosis that would preclude a person from being medically cleared for sports activities is the diagnosis of HOCM, which is the leading cause of sudden death among athletes. However, Jarvis was already diagnosed of HOCM early in high school. His personal physician at Children's Hospital, presumably a pediatric cardiologist, cleared him for play. Jarvis has a defibrillator implanted in him for safety. He is also seems to be doing well with his condition based on the fact that he was able to win MVP at the local basketball tournament recently. Most patients with severe HOCM do have some symptoms, even if they may not readily acknowledge them. What is most perplexing about this situation is that supposedly Jarvis underwent testing for two months by University physicians to quantify and risk stratify his condition. However, I'm not aware of any tests for HOCM that would take that long to perform. In addition, supposedly at the time neither Jarvis nor his family were told told that there was a problem with his condition by these physicians until the meeting with his coaches on June 8. It would be a violation of Jarvis's patient rights for the University physicians to not tell him about his condition and only tell the coaches to make their decision. So, in other words, either the information and timeline in this story have not been reported properly (doubtful because Amelia is great!), or either the University or Jarvis's family is not being totally forthcoming about his medical condition and the timeline that occurred. The whole series of events simply just doesn't make any sense.
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Interesting response. I interpret this to mean that the Johnson family and the coaches were seated to hear the report from the doctors. None of the coaches would have known the results of the testing so it would seem that both the Johnson family and coaches expected to hear a good report. This would explain why Coach Pitino was not at the meeting. If you expect it to be a routine presentation with a "thankyou handshake" to all participants, you wouldn't expect the need for the head coach to be at the meeting. It seems the expectations of the Johnson family and the Gophers basketball family were not met and instead there was shock at the conclusion from the medical staff.

It will be interesting to see if there is any procedure in place for a second opinion from independent experts.

In either case, I wish the Johnson family all the best.
 

They only ones that have said they were shocked by the conclusion of the medical staff is the Johnson family. Something may be said later that the coaching staff had no idea about what was going to come out of the medical report but at this time I find it hard to believe the coaching staff wasn't aware of the situation. The question might be when the coaching staff knew compared to when the Johnson family was told the news.
 

SelectionSunday said:
If you truly believe that, move on. Support another university.
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Seriously? Don't play that card.

Fully acknowledging that are things we don't know, can you honestly say that:

A. The U has handled this situation in the best possible way, based on what we know?

B. That they have earned the benefit of the doubt, based on their handling of off-court issues in the past?

Put another way, do you think Wisconsin, Michigan State, etc. would have handled this situation, as a whole, the same way?

One can have concerns about how this situation evolved without disagreeing with the outcome.
 

howeda7 said:
Seriously? Don't play that card.

Fully acknowledging that are things we don't know, can you honestly say that:

A. The U has handled this situation in the best possible way, based on what we know?

B. That they have earned the benefit of the doubt, based on their handling of off-court issues in the past?

Put another way, do you think Wisconsin, Michigan State, etc. would have handled this situation, as a whole, the same way?

One can have concerns about how this situation evolved without disagreeing with the outcome.
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I'm just surprised you didn't play the Joel Maturi card. Blame him for it.
 

howeda7 said:
Seriously? Don't play that card.

Fully acknowledging that are things we don't know, can you honestly say that:

A. The U has handled this situation in the best possible way, based on what we know?

B. That they have earned the benefit of the doubt, based on their handling of off-court issues in the past?

Put another way, do you think Wisconsin, Michigan State, etc. would have handled this situation, as a whole, the same way?

One can have concerns about how this situation evolved without disagreeing with the outcome.
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Can you explain to me what it is we know? Because I read the hackish column by Amelia and don't feel like I know much of anything, other than second hand through his dad that Jarvis was "shocked".

What I do know as a fact - Jarvis enrolled at the U even after finding out he wouldn't be cleared to play. If this was the U bungling this process as Amelia is attempting to lead people to believe, why did he not go play somewhere else? Why is his mom tweeting support for the Gophers and Pitino?
 


MaroonGold1 said:
Can you explain to me what it is we know? Because I read the hackish column by Amelia and don't feel like I know much of anything, other than second hand through his dad that Jarvis was "shocked".

What I do know as a fact - Jarvis enrolled at the U even after finding out he wouldn't be cleared to play. If this was the U bungling this process as Amelia is attempting to lead people to believe, why did he not go play somewhere else? Why is his mom tweeting support for the Gophers and Pitino?
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This is true. At the very least the differing stories suggest not everyone is on the same page, as the release Monday would have you believe. But I guess we are not allowed to ask questions about it or we are disloyal fans.
 


Funny how she seemed to try and throw Pitino under the bus with stressing the fact he didn't meet with Jarvis immediately. Maybe he was busy behind the scenes trying to help the Johnson family. Even got that dick Reusse ripping Richard for what? It's his fault? They took away his scholarship?
 

MaroonGold1 said:
Can you explain to me what it is we know? Because I read the hackish column by Amelia and don't feel like I know much of anything, other than second hand through his dad that Jarvis was "shocked".

What I do know as a fact - Jarvis enrolled at the U even after finding out he wouldn't be cleared to play. If this was the U bungling this process as Amelia is attempting to lead people to believe, why did he not go play somewhere else? Why is his mom tweeting support for the Gophers and Pitino?
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That is more of an opinion than a fact.
 



I alluded to it earlier that it doesn't look like the coaching staff knew beforehand, wouldn't that have been a violation of medical privacy. So don't go blaming Pitino for not being at the meeting.

Jarvis seems to know that at some time he would have to give up basketball for health reasons. It is very tough to have that decision made for you before you are ready for it. I assume that he knows that the most valuable thing he can get from his time at the U is a degree and not playing basketball. The U will stand behind him and give him his scholarship which will enable him to get a degree. Hopefully he can get cleared to play in the future, but he still has an opportunity that most kids dream about.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

scools12 said:
They only ones that have said they were shocked by the conclusion of the medical staff is the Johnson family. Something may be said later that the coaching staff had no idea about what was going to come out of the medical report but at this time I find it hard to believe the coaching staff wasn't aware of the situation. The question might be when the coaching staff knew compared to when the Johnson family was told the news.
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By law, the first to know the medical report must be the patient. My speculation is that the coaching staff was invited by the family to hear the report, which they all expected to be a passing grade. The coaching staff may then have offered to the family that they would issue a press release for them. With the shock of the report, it would not be unreasonable for the family to acquiesce to the coaching staff to issue a press release.

I see no reason to imagine that the coaches had any knowledge about the results before the meeting with the medical staff and the Johnson family.
 

scools12 said:
That is more of an opinion than a fact.
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Is this real or are you kidding? It seems pretty clear what I was stating the fact was. Why did you bold the beginning of a question to tell me that was an opinion, but not bold what I was stating the fact was?

What I do know as a fact - Jarvis enrolled at the U even after finding out he wouldn't be cleared to play.
 

I've got a feeling this story is just beginning.


I'm holding out hope he plays for the Gophers.
 






assuming that the Strib story quoted the Dad correctly, he seems to be the most upset of the family, including a suggestion that he wanted JJ to not enroll at the U to pursue other options.

There is also a quote in the story that the U's doctors "wanted more time to study the situation." That seems to imply that they didn't have all of the info they needed to clear JJ to play.

Like everybody else in this thread, I have no "inside" information on what happened. But, considering that JJ's medical condition has been known for years, you have to think that Pitino would not have recruited JJ and offered him a scholarship if he had any idea that JJ would not be able to play. Still, whatever the reason, Pitino not being at the meeting is unfortunate.
 

SelectionSunday said:
Well said.

That's the whole key to this thing. To me it's a huge stretch to think the family wasn't made aware of this possible end-game throughout the recruiting process. That said, if Pitino, Teague, or whoever did not alert the family to this possibility (that Jarvis would be tested by the U's medical team/specialists, but perhaps not cleared), that's just plain stupid.
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Knowing this and understanding the implications are different things. I have a friend who is a GP - based on what we know, she said he should not be playing competitive sports - do a search if you doubt this. It isn't recommended. Amelia's writing seems disingenuous, and very unfair to the unfolding of a tough situation.

To suggest that he should be able to play if he 'wants to' is problematic.
People - patients & parents - do not necessarily fully understand their medical conditions or buy into them - esp. in the instance of someone asymptomatic who appears to be just fine. Its hard to believe the condition is life-threatening. Additionally, he might not just drop dead - he might develop problems that could lead to the need for surgery, even a transplant.

The really great thing here is that his basketball skills are going to get him a college education.
 






With so many unanswered questions it would be great if the U would just come out and explain the situation. Maybe they can't discuss the particulars of JJs condition but how about explaining the process of getting to this point and steps that could be taken down the road? Doesn't seem like too much to ask.
 

Clear answers and accountablility doesn't come often with this ball program lately.

-I don't remember anyone officially address about the Mcneil situation or his status. (Norwood did say the U has '0 tolerance' for violence)

-Still don't know why Lofton got sent packing and never got a clear answer about his future. (except he's a good kid, it's a long shot, didn't wanna leave him out to dry)

- nawanko was released for some uncertain 'clearing house' reasons, but he seemed surprised/dissapointed by the news. (seems to be eligible at VCU, which a head-scratcher)

-Jarvis is informed a couple weeks before school that he won't be cleared to play. (that info seems long overdue)

Just seems like a lot of mysterious stuff. Hopefully these experience's make us better at handling whats thrown at us.
 

Moonlight said:
Knowing this and understanding the implications are different things. I have a friend who is a GP - based on what we know, she said he should not be playing competitive sports - do a search if you doubt this. It isn't recommended. Amelia's writing seems disingenuous, and very unfair to the unfolding of a tough situation.

To suggest that he should be able to play if he 'wants to' is problematic.
People - patients & parents - do not necessarily fully understand their medical conditions or buy into them - esp. in the instance of someone asymptomatic who appears to be just fine. Its hard to believe the condition is life-threatening. Additionally, he might not just drop dead - he might develop problems that could lead to the need for surgery, even a transplant.

The really great thing here is that his basketball skills are going to get him a college education.
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Every day people risk their lives. JJ (and his family) should have the right to decide his own fate. In the same state in which JJ was denied the ability to play college ball, people are allowed to motorcycle without wearing a helmet. That's ok, but JJ is not allowed to decide whether or not he wants to play basketball?
 

cncmin said:
Every day people risk their lives. JJ (and his family) should have the right to decide his own fate. In the same state in which JJ was denied the ability to play college ball, people are allowed to motorcycle without wearing a helmet. That's ok, but JJ is not allowed to decide whether or not he wants to play basketball?
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This is an odd post. Of course he's allowed to decide - I think we all know he wants to.
Why do you want him to ride a motorcycle without a helmet??

There's something called informed consent, and no one should whine about doctors and this. Patients have to fully understand what they are risking, and this isn't easy because there's can be a high level of denial. In fact, yes, if he plays and something happens the doctors who explained the risks will have to have documentation up the wazoo to protect themselves against claims that he/the family didn't really understand. The demands of the college game exceed that of high school. Professional demands exceed college. At some point, this becomes too dangerous for someone with his condition. It would be a damn shame but not the end of the world if he can't play.

Does the U want to enable him to risk his life and health, or help him accept and adapt to an inevitable limitation? A limitation that will not prevent him from having a great life. If he's cleared to play, I'll feel confident that they've made a good decision. If not, I feel confident from what we've heard that the U is prepared to support him in a transition to a non-completive role in the program.
 

Moonlight said:
This is an odd post. Of course he's allowed to decide - I think we all know he wants to.
Why do you want him to ride a motorcycle without a helmet??

There's something called informed consent, and no one should whine about doctors and this. Patients have to fully understand what they are risking, and this isn't easy because there's can be a high level of denial. In fact, yes, if he plays and something happens the doctors who explained the risks will have to have documentation up the wazoo to protect themselves against claims that he/the family didn't really understand. The demands of the college game exceed that of high school. Professional demands exceed college. At some point, this becomes too dangerous for someone with his condition. It would be a damn shame but not the end of the world if he can't play.

Does the U want to enable him to risk his life and health, or help him accept and adapt to an inevitable limitation? A limitation that will not prevent him from having a great life. If he's cleared to play, I'll feel confident that they've made a good decision. If not, I feel confident from what we've heard that the U is prepared to support him in a transition to a non-completive role in the program.
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When we do something that involves higher risk, we sign a waiver that says that we understand the risks, and whatever happens is not the responsibility of others. It shouldn't have to be more than that, but our over-reaching system of lawyers desires otherwise.
 

cncmin said:
When we do something that involves higher risk, we sign a waiver that says that we understand the risks, and whatever happens is not the responsibility of others. It shouldn't have to be more than that, but our over-reaching system of lawyers desires otherwise.
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The problem is the idiots whom, having already signed a waiver, decide to sue later anyway. That's what screws the whole system up.
 

Sparlimb said:
The problem is the idiots whom, having already signed a waiver, decide to sue later anyway. That's what screws the whole system up.
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That's why the US needs to adopt the "loser pays" civil system the UK has. Would make people think twice before bringing up frivolous lawsuits, but that is a discussion for another day.
 

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