The doctor whose discovery of a degenerative brain disease in football players inspired the hit movie "Concussion" says he’d bet his license that O.J. Simpson has the disease — known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy or CTE.
Dr. Bennet Omalu said Simpson displays classic symptoms of CTE such as explosive and impulsive behavior, impaired judgment, criminality and mood disorders.
The strongest evidence that Simpson may have CTE, Omalu said, is his college and professional playing years.
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“He was exposed to thousands of blunt force trauma of his brain,” Omalu said.
“I would bet my medical license on it.”
CTE is believed to be caused by repeated blows to the head. It has been found mostly in athletes who play contact sports, such as football. The condition is not diagnosed until after death from an examination of the brain.
Omalu, a soft-spoken forensic pathologist, challenged the NFL in 2003 with findings that repeated trauma to the brain was causing players to lose their minds.
Simpson, one of the most famous running backs in football history, was charged and acquitted in 1995 of the bloody slashing death of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman.
Simpson lost a wrongful death civil suit brought against him by the families of Goldman and his ex-wife. He was ordered to pay $33.5 million in damages.
In September 2007, Simpson was arrested in Las Vegas for armed robbery after attempting to steal sports memorabilia that he claimed belonged to him. The following year — 13 years to the day after being acquitted in his criminal trial — he was found guilty of robbery and kidnapping, and sentenced to up to 33 years in prison.
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