Doctors who decide whether an NFL player is healthy enough to go into the game shouldn’t be paid by the teams that have a stake in winning and losing — an ‘‘undeniable conflict of interest.’’
That’s what a report released on Thursday by Harvard University experts in medicine, law, and ethics said.
The study by the NFL Players Association-funded Football Players Health Study also recommended a short-term injured reserve for athletes recovering from a concussion, much like the system that baseball adopted five years ago.
The 500-page report included 76 recommendations addressed to 20 NFL stakeholders — everyone from players and teams to equipment manufacturers and government regulators. The biggest message: Player safety will never be the top priority as long as those involved have competing calls on their loyalty.
‘‘So long as the club doctor is chosen, paid, and reviewed by the club to both care for players and advise the club, the doctor will have, at a minimum, tacit pressures or subconscious desires to please the club by doing what is in the club’s best interests,’’ the report said.
‘‘This is not a moral judgment about them as competent professionals or devoted individuals, but rather a simple fact of the current organizational structure of their position in which they simultaneously perform at least two roles that are not necessarily compatible.’’
It’s a conclusion that was similar to that reached in an AP survey of 100 players across the league last season. Asked if they thought the league’s clubs, coaches, and team doctors have the athletes’ best interests at heart when it comes to health and safety, only 47 said ‘‘yes.’’
To resolve the conflict of interest, the report recommended that the league and the union contribute to a fund used to pay doctors assigned to teams.
‘‘It should be common sense to avoid a conflict of interest between teams and doctors,’’ former San Francisco 49ers offensive lineman Anthony Davis, who retired — for the second time — at the age of 26 after repeated concussions, said on Twitter on Thursday.
Although the study called the arrangement ‘‘an undeniable conflict of interest,’’ the league did in fact deny it.
In a 33-page response, the NFL said it was ‘‘disappointed that the report appeared to start with the premise that the health care system in the NFL suffers from an ‘inherent conflict of interest.’ ’’
‘‘The report ultimately promotes the untenable and impractical recommendation that NFL players receive care from ‘two distinct groups of medical professionals,’ ’’ the league wrote, saying that would ‘‘have unintended but extremely detrimental effects on NFL players’ care.’’
The NFL said the report failed to note any examples where a doctor put a team’s interest ahead of the player’s, or establish any link between a doctor’s job security and player or team performance. The league said the collective bargaining agreement establishes that team doctors’ responsibility is to the player only, and that they are bound by the AMA and other professional codes of ethics.
Players also have the right to seek a second opinion from a doctor of their own choosing, the league said.
Not so fast
Tony Romo’s future in Dallas isn’t really a question in the mind of Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones.
Even though the 36-year-old quarterback has lost his starting job to rookie Dak Prescott, the idea of him moving on in the offseason is ‘‘not a consideration,’’ according to Jones.
Two days after Romo conceded the No. 1 job to Prescott in what some viewed as a farewell speech, Jones said Thursday it was ‘‘not a goodbye.’’ The Cowboys owner believes Romo is still capable of leading a team to the Super Bowl, perhaps even the Cowboys.
‘‘I think Tony has got five years left of really competing for a Super Bowl,’’ Jones said. ‘‘I believe Tony will be the quarterback on a Super Bowl team. I believe that strongly. We’re talking generic now, and I have no plans for him not to be part of the Dallas Cowboys. Not a consideration.’’
While Romo was sidelined by a back injury sustained in a preseason game, Prescott led Dallas to eight straight wins, tying a franchise season mark, and the best record in the NFL at 8-1.
Manziel case
Former Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel reached a deal with prosecutors for the conditional dismissal of a domestic assault case involving his former girlfriend. Defense attorney Jim Darnell said there was still work to be done, but said after a Thursday morning hearing that he was encouraged. A judge set another hearing for Dec. 1, when the case could be settled. The 23-year-old Manziel is accused of hitting and threatening former girlfriend Colleen Crowley during a night out in January. The misdemeanor charge carries a penalty of up to a year in jail and a $4,000 fine . . . Titans left tackle Taylor Lewan was fined $30,000 for making contact with an official, and he plans to appeal. Lewan was ejected on the first drive of the Titans’ second possession in last week’s 47-25 win over Green Bay. He took exception to Packers defensive tackle Letroy Guion hitting Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota on a play that drew Guion a flag. Back judge Steve Freeman was trying to break up the players when Lewan brushed the official’s hands away.
