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The Mystery of Aaron Hernandez’s Brain
Aaron Hernandez rocketed from fame as the New England Patriot’s tight end in 2012 to serving a life sentence in the shooting death of friend in 2013. On April 19, 2017, Aaron Hernandez was found dead in his cell by hanging. Currently his death has been ruled a suicide. The question is why?
Hernandez had been recently acquitted in two other murders. While that acquittal did not remove the burden of his life sentence for the shooting death of his friend, his suicide raises many questions. He was not regarded as a suicide risk by prison authorities. But, following his death his family approved that his brain be sent for study to determine if he suffered from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy or CTE. Hernandez played football in college as an All-American and excelled in other sports, too. Had he experienced injuries to his brain over his high school, college and pro-football playing? There are key aspects of his past behavior which may indicate problems with anger. Recently cases of younger athletes with CTE have been identified. Is it possible that his problems with anger related to brain injuries?
The answer to the mystery of Aaron Hernandez’s brain won’t be answered for some time. In the meantime we know that Hernandez played football for a number of years and got into difficulty with the law and eventually took another person’s life before taking his own. The possibility of CTE affecting Aaron Hernandez is real.
Click here to read the New York Times story: https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/04/19/sports/football/the-final-fall-of-aaron-hernandez.html?emc=edit_th_20170420&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=51651162&referer=
Key words: Aaron Hernandez, CTE, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, football brain injuries, suicide and CTE.
