Brain Damage

With each passing day, the list of plaintiffs filing concussion lawsuits against the NFL grows. At last check, more than 2,100 former players have filed suit against the league in 74 separate lawsuits, most of which have been consolidated in federal court in Philadelphia. By the end of the summer, the number of plaintiffs could exceed 3,000. The list of plaintiffs includes Hall of Famers like Lem Barney and Joe DeLamielleure and Rickey Jackson and Paul Krause, and Super Bowl MVPs like Mark Rypien and Dexter Jackson.

Jockey Michael Rowland was in critical condition yesterday, 1 day after being involved in a three-horse spill at Turfway Park in Florence, Ky. Rowland's agent, Mike Greenfield, said he was told by the jockey's family that Rowland was in a coma and had brain damage. "It's not looking good," Greenfield said. "But from what I've heard, even the best-case scenario is not going to be really good. " Rowland had surgery Wednesday night, but the extent of his injuries was not immediately known, a track spokesman said.

Karen Burton-Lister's obstetrician went on vacation the day before she went into labor in October 1990. Two of his partners apparently weren't aware of her need for a Caesarean section birth, said attorneys Gustine J. Pelagatti and Alisa Marion yesterday. They should have checked the records, the lawyers said. Burton-Lister's daughter was born with brain damage. The mother sued. A jury has awarded Burton-Lister $2 million on behalf of her daughter, now 10. The panel deliberated about two hours before returning the verdict to Common Pleas Judge Mary D. Colins.

Former heavyweight champion Riddick Bowe should receive a reduced sentence because he was brain-damaged when he pleaded guilty to abducting his wife and five children, attorney Johnnie Cochran told a judge yesterday in Charlotte, N.C. Under the plea agreement, Bowe faces a sentence of 18 to 24 months in prison. Cochran told Mullen Bowe, 32, suffers from a mental disorder caused by blows to the head during his years of fighting. He said Bowe and his defense lawyers were unaware of his mental problems when he agreed to plead guilty.

When asked in a recent psychiatric interview who was president and who was mayor, demolition contractor and reputed mob associate Ralph "Big Ralph" Costobile replied, Ronald Reagan and Frank Rizzo. Nor could the 46-year old contractor, who owns Big Ralph's Saloon on Passyunk Avenue, remember his age or address, his psychiatrist reported. With Costobile facing trial for racketeering and the defense contending he suffers from brain damage stemming from an infected foot, the psychiatrist's report yesterday led to an unusual joint request by Strike Force prosecutor Barry Gross and Costobile's defense attorney, Edward Reif.

A Philadelphia neurologist has invented a vaccine aimed at preventing brain damage from stroke. Matthew During of Thomas Jefferson University and a team of scientists report in today's issue of Science that when they gave the vaccine to rats and then induced a stroke, it appeared to reduce the death of brain tissue by about 70 percent. The vaccine is not designed to prevent strokes but is meant to protect the brain against some of the permanent damage that often leaves people paralyzed or impaired in their speech or memory.

A potential drug identified by researchers at Merck Sharp & Dohme laboratories in West Point might be useful in reducing damage to the brain caused by an interruption in the supply of oxygen. Such damage most often occurs when a heart attack or stroke disrupts the flow of blood to the brain. The substance, known as MK-801, originally was considered as a possible anti-convulsive agent for the control of epilepsy. That prospect was dampened, however, when tests conducted by Merck researchers indicated that the substance could not be administered orally.

Buzz Bissinger has already called someone a moron on Twitter this day, but really, the virtuosic vitriol that has characterized his Twitter feed has been somewhat subdued lately. Instead, Bissinger is sitting on a chair in a family room off the kitchen of his house in Chestnut Hill and talking about stuff so personal, so self-flagellating, that it would make you gasp if it weren't comically shot through with F-bombs. Next to him is his son, Zach Bissinger, 28, well known to anyone who ever worked with Buzz at The Inquirer or met Zach through work or at a party where Zach walked up to you, introduced himself, and wanted to know who you were, what's your birthday, and whether you ever worked with Vernon Loeb or Steve Lopez or the other people known forever to him through his familial and personal connections in journalism.

The Philadelphia Housing Authority will pay the family of a girl $9.68 million to settle a lawsuit prompted by brain damage she sustained when mold in her public housing apartment triggered an asthma attack. Ebony Gage, now 16, was 12 when the episode occurred at the apartment in Frankford. Attorneys for the family claimed that PHA was aware of the condition, continued to pay the landlord full rent, and required the family to give 30 days' notice before it could vacate the apartment. It was during that time Gage had the asthma attack.

Two-year-old Jonathan Braccio needs a lot of help. It became apparent four months after his birth in February 1985 that the brown-haired, brown-eyed Cherry Hill child had suffered severe brain damage. Now, in an effort to remedy the damage, Jonathan is undergoing patterning therapy - a series of repeated exercises designed to teach the undamaged portions of his brain to take over for the parts that previously controlled his sight, movement, sensation and coordination. The therapy is being provided entirely by his family and volunteers.

With each passing day, the list of plaintiffs filing concussion lawsuits against the NFL grows. At last check, more than 2,100 former players have filed suit against the league in 74 separate lawsuits, most of which have been consolidated in federal court in Philadelphia. By the end of the summer, the number of plaintiffs could exceed 3,000. The list of plaintiffs includes Hall of Famers like Lem Barney and Joe DeLamielleure and Rickey Jackson and Paul Krause, and Super Bowl MVPs like Mark Rypien and Dexter Jackson.

Buzz Bissinger has already called someone a moron on Twitter this day, but really, the virtuosic vitriol that has characterized his Twitter feed has been somewhat subdued lately. Instead, Bissinger is sitting on a chair in a family room off the kitchen of his house in Chestnut Hill and talking about stuff so personal, so self-flagellating, that it would make you gasp if it weren't comically shot through with F-bombs. Next to him is his son, Zach Bissinger, 28, well known to anyone who ever worked with Buzz at The Inquirer or met Zach through work or at a party where Zach walked up to you, introduced himself, and wanted to know who you were, what's your birthday, and whether you ever worked with Vernon Loeb or Steve Lopez or the other people known forever to him through his familial and personal connections in journalism.

Assistant District Attorney Richard Sax at times spoke directly to accused killer Donte Johnson in his closing argument Tuesday as he described the rape, beating, and eventual killing of Sabina Rose O'Donnell. "He took everything from her," Sax said as Johnson, 20, stared back intently, his jaw clenched, his face expressionless. "Her dignity, her womanhood, her freedom, her life. And you've given us back zero in terms of remorse or contrition. ... He gave us nothing. " Gary Server, Johnson's attorney, described Johnson in his closing argument as "feebleminded" and "one can short of a six-pack" — someone whose childlike brain did not know what he was doing when he confessed to the June 2010 killing.

YOU PROBABLY haven't heard of him, but, among the insulated world of Philadelphia's journalistic and political cognoscenti, there's long been a very special celebrity, someone mayors and governors and editors and talking heads alike go out of their way not only to greet, but to befriend. He is perhaps the only Philadelphian beloved by both Democrats and Republicans, and by competing beat writers. He is not someone with a privileged position or a lot of power. He simply has a huge heart, a mischievous smile and an infectious way of looking at the world — and this makes people want him to like them.

DURING HIS closing argument Tuesday in the trial of Sabina Rose O'Donnell's alleged killer, a city prosecutor seized on DNA evidence that linked Donte Johnson to her 2010 rape and murder. A defense attorney, for his part, said that the "feeble-minded" Johnson may have been "one can short of a sixpack" but that he was not guilty. The arguments, delivered to a packed Philadelphia courtroom, were followed by jury instructions from Common Pleas Judge Glenn Bronson. The jury deliberated for about two hours before going home for the day. Johnson, 20, is accused of stalking the 20-year-old Northern Liberties waitress as she rode a borrowed bicycle home on Girard Avenue early on June 2, 2010.

A PORTRAIT of Sabina Rose O'Donnell's alleged killer emerged in a Philadelphia courtroom Monday as a forensic psychologist explained the conclusions from a battery of tests he administered to Donte Johnson, who is on trial in the 2010 rape and murder of the Northern Liberties waitress. Gerald Cooke, the final defense witness, who was paid more than $9,300 in taxpayer money for his services, testified via video recorded last week that Johnson, 20, was likely born withbrain damage, the origin of which is unknown.

Donte Johnson is 20 years old, but the way he thinks, communicates, and copes with problems is more in line with the mind of child, according to a forensic neuropsychologist who testified in Johnson's murder trial Monday. Johnson, accused in the June 2010 rape and slaying of Sabina Rose O'Donnell, has an IQ in the 70s, which places him on the borderline of what is considered "mentally retarded," said Gerald Cooke, who administered a series of tests to Johnson this year. "He's basically in that 11- to 12-year-old range in terms of his intellectual functioning," Cooke said.

In a low but steady voice, Donte Johnson on Monday rejected an offer from the District Attorney's Office to plead guilty and receive a life-without-parole prison sentence in the June 2010 rape and murder of Sabina Rose O'Donnell, the 20-year-old Northern Liberties woman whose slaying behind her apartment building rocked the trendy community. Johnson, 20, of 11th Street near Poplar, rejected the same offer in December 2010, when city prosecutors were talking about seeking the death penalty against him. They've since opted not to pursue the death penalty, which means Johnson, ironically, would face a life sentence if a jury finds him guilty of first-degree murder.

William Lawlis Pace, 103, who held the Guinness World Record for living the longest with a bullet in his head, died in his sleep Monday at a Turlock, Calif., nursing home. His death came 94 years and six months after his older brother accidentally shot him with their father's .22-caliber rifle in 1917. Mr. Pace learned in 2006 that he had been crowned the world record-holder in the category of unwanted cranial ammunition. His son told a newspaper during a birthday party for his father last year that doctors in Mr. Pace's native Texas left the bullet in place because they worried that surgery might cause brain damage.