Columnist Dean Juipe: Injury info blocked by tangled law

Dean Juipe

Friday, Sept. 27, 2002 | 10:33 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4084.

If I were a college athlete I couldn't admit to this, but I picked up a cut over my left eye playing basketball Thursday at Desert Breeze.

I also have a chronically bad right arm that refuses to straighten itself out.

That information, however limited (and useless) it is, is more than the public is entitled to know, based on some interpretations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 that goes into effect next April but is already being adhered to by some universities.

Many college football fans first became aware of it two weeks ago during the Notre Dame-Michigan game when ABC sideline reporter Jack Arute attempted to give viewers an update on the condition of Irish quarterback Carlyle Holiday. The latter had come off the field and had an ice pack placed on his shoulder, and it was Arute's responsibility to see what he could find out and relay to the television audience.

But not only did Arute come up empty handed, he dumbfounded most that were tuned in by saying "we must be cautious because of new federal laws in which you're not allowed to release medical information on players."

Similarly, a CBS broadcaster said during the Florida-Tennessee game that Florida would be withholding injury information, as did an ABC commentator during the BYU-Georgia Tech game after Yellow Jackets running back Tony Hollings left the contest with an apparent knee injury.

So what's going on here?

Injury information is pertinent to fans and relatively harmless in terms of its lasting impact. But, suddenly, some schools are treating it as if it's none of your business.

The HIPAA was not written with the intention of prohibiting the release of injury information from sporting events, most impartial observers agree. Yet because there's a lack of clarity pertaining to the new law, many schools are taking a hard-line stance until a revised interpretation is provided.

All of the major professional leagues -- including Major League Baseball, the NFL, the NBA and the NHL -- reportedly have already applied for a waiver from adhering to the letter of the HIPAA. Each of those leagues maintains the law was not designed to block sports teams from releasing information on injured players.

But the nation's colleges aren't quite sure what to do with this and have yet to organize themselves or set a specific policy. As a result, there's a slipshod situation in place where some schools are being open about injuries while others are refusing to tell the public anything at all.

The purpose of the HIPAA is to help the typical American worker keep some medical information private, should he so choose. And while it was not intended to have anything to do with sports, a few zealots -- espousing the need to keep injury info away from gamblers -- have used the uncertain language of the HIPAA to persuade a few gullible schools to dummy up.

Have I got news for them: If sports gamblers want information on an injured player, it'll take more than a flimsy ban to keep them from getting it. Which, in the long run, only means that a team's bread and butter -- its casual fans -- will be left in the dark about the condition of their favorite players.

Our tax dollars at work? You betcha.