PHILADELPHIA. The National Football League has concluded that the Philadelphia Eagles followed every applicable medical protocol in their handling of quarterback Jalen Hurts' blood clots. The players' union has called for an investigation, the local procedure for requesting that someone write down what happened. The league's review is complete. The writing down has not started. Between the two statements sits the entire public record: one assurance.
Under league rules, each club's medical staff is employed by the club. The league verifies compliance by requesting the club's account of its own conduct. The review ends when the account arrives and matches the protocols. It has arrived. It matched. Officials describe the arrangement as independent, since neither of the parties conducting it is the public, the player, or the clot. The union has asked for the underlying materials: dates, findings, clearances. The league has pointed to the club's account of the sequence of decisions.
"We do not investigate our clubs," said Alan Prentice, Senior Vice President for Protocol Assurance at the league office. "We receive their assurances and certify receipt. That distinction is the design. The design is functioning as designed." "We have received a thorough account of how well everything went," said Dana Whitfield, Deputy General Counsel for the players' union. "We have requested the account of what happened, when it was discovered, and who made each decision. Those are different documents. So far, one of them, and it is very pleased with itself." The league's public statement, as intercepted, runs 214 words, uses the word "protocols" six times, and does not contain the word "clot."
The club's own contribution came from Ray Kowalczyk, Vice President of Communications: "The health and safety of our players is our first priority. We put that in writing today, as we do every time the question comes up. The writing has never been safer." The union's document request has joined a waiting list, the queue of the queue, where requests wait for the documents that would justify requesting them. The quarterback, the only party with a clot, has issued no statement. The club says he is expected to keep playing.
The gap, filed to standard intercept format. Declared: the protocols were followed. Printed: that they were, by the party that followed them. Certified: by the party that received the printing. Requested: the records. Received: pending. Measured distance between briefing and event: the assurance preceded the records by one entire review. Running count: two statements, zero records, one clot. The design is functioning.
