He could sign every waiver in the world, he’s not playing at UF without a firm Ok from doctors. The political and reputational blowback would exist for decades or longer if something happened to him. No way the school takes that on. And that’s before legitimate concerns about his health and Keyontae the person.
It really is not so much a legal problem as a PR problem. Keyontae could sign waivers releasing UF from any and all liability if something should happen if he plays. If he does that, and we let him play and there is a tragedy, we would be absolutely crushed by the media, even if UF couldn't be sued. UF doesn't want that and no doctor is going to guarantee that everything will be fine with him. His situation is very unpredictable. Then there is the issue of his $5 million insurance policy. Do they pay out if he plays? You have to read the policy to know. It's a complicated situation he faces, and I hope he got proper advice.
Keyontae Johnson will never play in a sanctioned game of basketball in the United States again in his life. No organization worth their salt allows players who have implanted defibrillation devices to play, both in this country and across the world. everyone will immediately want to hit me with the bacon or the facepalm reacts, but before you do please consider that I have not released any information that would run afoul of HIPAA. UF will never be clear with the public about this situation because UF is also where Key's medical care took place and the UF doctors had the final sign-off on allowing him to leave the hospital out the front door and not be transferred by ambulance to another hospital. UF's silence and Key's silence should speak very loudly to everyone who is interested in understanding the situation.
He should take the insurance money and just take care of himself. The Waylon Jennings song "I'm Living Proof (There's Life after You)" was inspired by Jennings kicking his cocaine habit, but it can be applied to basketball, a lover, or anything else in one's past: You were the toast of the town And I was the one that you chose You took me the long way around But that's what it takes, I suppose A fool can get lost in a dream Desire always covers the wrong Nothing is as bad as it seems 'Cause I've learned to live with you gone I'm living proof, there's life after you After all I've been through I'm living proof, there's life after you
Implanted defibrillator? It wouldn't surprise me if that is true but I've not seen any suggestion of such prior to this. Maybe the poster has some info that hasn't been made public. Or maybe its an educated guess. Eventually, KJ will speak out. I rather think KJ doesn't have one because if he did, why not say so? Nothing would change in the future.
I almost typed that exact same sentence. I don't get why it would be a secret... for the reason you stated.
Yeah I think the risk to returning is more than the reward since it's cardiac related....I don't want to see another Hank Gathers incident although medicine has come a long way since then
You would think after a year they would know....I am no doctor but I have never heard of a diagnosis that takes over a year to diagnose
When this happened to KJ I recall coming across an article from a few years prior about how some small number of young athletes mysteriously die of heart attacks every year, despite having no apparent structural issue. The heart just… stops. It also noted basketball athletes had more such incidents, and the theory was it was because of the constant stop-start action on a basketball court. That’s apparently rougher on the heart than a constant cardio workout. It was also true that even those that survived had very high likelihood of repeat incidents, thus my assumption has been KJ would never play again. As I recall, the reason it is difficult to diagnose in those cases was that it’s basically an “electrical” issue, not something that shows up in a structural scan of the heart or even an irregular heartbeat or valve problem. So you do an autopsy and the heart appears normal. I guess it’s just hard to replicate in tests? It all sounded eerily similar since there was never a firm (public) diagnosis about what happened. Not sure if any of that applies to KJ, if the thing about the defibrillator is true then they must have something to go on. But as that’s the first time I’ve seen it mentioned that’s a pretty big “if”. Some people have tried to play with an ID, a former Gator (Allan Cheney) tried to resume his career at other schools, but after a couple more incidents with the ID had to call it a career. I wonder if any have successfully been able to? I guess it’s something they let them try, but doesn’t seem like a great idea.
Very informative post thank you. Yes the heart is more or less an electrical system controlled by the exchange of sodium and potassium ions. The only condition I know that results in the interruption of rhythm is something called commotio cordis, which is where blunt force is applied to the heart when it's between beats (getting hit in chest by baseball for instance). Now regarding KJ, unless he was hit quite severely earlier in the game by an elbow, I highly doubt that's the cause. So the only conditions I can think of you are left with would be HCOM (hypertrophic cardiomyopathy which is enlarged heart ala Hank Gathers), or sickle cell anemia, or myocarditis. The cynic in me thinks the university has known for sometime what the cause is but they don't want him playing for liability reasons.
Key needs to invest wisely. Can live very well on 5 million, should get 3.5- 3.8 after taxes. Could be head Coach at Fl in 10-12 years when White retires after his 3rd NC.
Don’t know if it’s accurate or not, but I’ve seen it posted multiple times that the insurance policy pays out as non taxable income.
