Truth in ‘Sport is life’

NEW ORLEANS, La. – Men delay emergency medical attention when there are sports on the television.
So says ER doctor David Jerrard, who reviewed three years of case files from the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore.
Jerrad’s study showed that a drop in the number of men going to the emergency room during sports broadcasts on television is followed by a surge afterward.
The study, released Wednesday at a meeting of emergency physicians, didn’t surprise the president of the American Academy of Emergency Medicine, Dr. Tom Scaletta.
He told the Associated Press that he saw the same trend when he was a medical resident and earned an extra $100 a game running the emergency clinic during games at Wrigley Field in Chicago.
“It was a two-stage decision: If they were hurt, whether to go to the hospital or not. If they needed to go to the hospital, could they finish the game or not?”
The study looked at the four-hour period starting 30 minutes after the end of televised games of the NFL, major league baseball and the University of Maryland football and basketball teams.
Overall, the number of ER visits was about 40 percent above the average for the same time and day of the week without a sportscast.
The biggest increase was after college football games when an average of 15 patients came to the ER, compared to eight during the same time period on non-game days.
Jerrard said his next study will focus on conditions treated. He would not speculate on the possibility of post-game fights as a reason for the spike in cases.