2014-15 NFL Offseason Thread (Non Draft Edition)

[rowech]

I'd fire Schefter too. Tweeting that is WAY out of line for any reporter.

[stevew]

Schefter needs punched in the face.

[JAG]

Some football insight I never thought I'd see:

@ProFootballDoc: My ranking of finger importance in a defensive end:
1) thumb
2) ring
3) pinkie (4th & 5th most important for power grip)
4) middle
5) index

[JeeberD]

Seems to me it would be hard to get a grip on someone without the index finger...

[Logan]

Originally Posted by rowech

I'd fire Schefter too. Tweeting that is WAY out of line for any reporter.

I'm a bit weirded out by how weird I felt when I saw that picture.

[Coffee Warlord]

Someone at that hospital is going to be introduced to the iron fist of HIPAA.

[molson]

There's something about the photo that's jarring, but if ESPN just reported that he had a finger amputated I don't think there'd be this reaction. (That Buccs player lost two fingers, it sounds like that info came from his family.) I've always assumed there's something wonky with athletes and HIPAA generally. Because media outlets always report on on-field or off-field injuries. During the season, teams are required to disclose player injury information. I always figured that maybe as part of their contracts, players waive HIPAA and permit hospital disclosure of records to the teams. And then since teams aren't covered entities, they can disclose/leak to the league or the media or whoever they want.

I know there's a timing thing here with what some members of the Giants knew and when, but I'm sure they automatically get info like this about their players. Or maybe it came from someone at the hospital, or maybe it came from someone around Pierre-Paul. But either way, we were going to find out about this today, weren't we? I'd find it incredibly strange if a player had an injury that could significantly impact is playing career and we didn't find out about it until months after the fact. That's like Bill Bellichick kind of stuff, and he's criticized for that.

[Logan]

Right, I would have believed Adam Schefter of all people if he sent out a tweet saying a source told him JPP had his finger amputated. Because like you said, it's not something that would have been hidden very long.

Including the picture seemed unnecessary and therefore made me feel weird.

[Scoobz0202]

I don't know. That picture is part of a computer screen. I've never let a patient look at their chart on the computer. Only certain people have access to it. To take a picture of it had to be some medical personnel. Either way, somebody is really going to be regretting their decision.

[Bobble]

Am I missing something? If Schefty tweeted a picture of the severed finger, I get the outcry. He's just showing proof of the info he's tweeting as far as I can tell. In this day and age, that's his job, right? Get out accurate info by whatever means necessary, as quickly as possible to be the first to break the story. He's doing just what his bosses want him to do. Why would he be fired?

[jeff061]

Leaked medical records are a bit taboo. Actual pictures taken from inside a hospital doubly so.

[Scoobz0202]

Yeah. I don't have a real anger towards schefter personally as he is a journalist. If it came out that he illegally obtained those records then different story but even if that was the case it would be more ESPN than Schefter. My indignation is moreso towards what probably happened. That is some employee took these pictures and sold them to ESPN or just gave them to them. As somebody who works in direct patient care (nurse) that is just ridiculous. We had that pounded into us from day one of school. Patient confidentially is huge.

Edit: but I do think he should have just said "reliable source discloses.." to avoid any blowback or repercussions to his source

[Logan]

Originally Posted by Bobble

Am I missing something? If Schefty tweeted a picture of the severed finger, I get the outcry. He's just showing proof of the info he's tweeting as far as I can tell. In this day and age, that's his job, right? Get out accurate info by whatever means necessary, as quickly as possible to be the first to break the story. He's doing just what his bosses want him to do. Why would he be fired?

If he had tweeted the texts (with names and numbers blurred out) of his sources passing along all his other scoops as proof, I'd agree with you.

[Arles]

I can tell you this, if I have sensitive medical or legal documents and lack the moral compass to keep them disclosed, you can be darn sure there's 0 chance I'm sending them to Schefter. I'd take my chances with Glazer, King or the other NFL writers at this point. Adam basically sold his source down the river by posting those images - which is really no different than naming your "anonymous source" in a story. I'm guessing that's a bit of a journalism no-no.

[Bobble]

Originally Posted by Scoobz0202

Edit: but I do think he should have just said "reliable source discloses.." to avoid any blowback or repercussions to his source

"Reliable sources disclose" is meaningless. That's every tweet he's ever twat (). He's not going to send out anything and tag it with "UNreliable sources tell me..."

Is this tweet a little skeevy? Yes. His whole job is to be skeevy. Skeeve out the info -- and be the first to do it. That's on his business card, I think.

I will agree that he's not protecting his source very well.

edit: Maybe it's not HIS source...

[BishopMVP]

So from what I know of HIPPA, people are definitely getting fired from the hospital for that, but it sounds like JPP wouldn't get much from a suit unless he could prove it cost him a contract.

Schefter/ESPN are scumbags here, but clear of any legal wrongdoing (unless Schefty was sneaking into the hospital and taking the picture himself). However, could the person who leaked the info to Schefter (and will be fired for it) sue Schefter for monetary damages?

[ISiddiqui]

As someone who works with HIPAA, there is definitely a violation there. Now, of course, there is some difference with NFL teams in reporting injuries. But that, I believe, is after the player is looked at by the team doctor and there may be some waiving of HIPAA there. However, this was a hospital and the team really has no right to those medical records (in looking at claims files for my job, the employer has absolutely no right to any of that information).

Now Schefter and ESPN are likely fine. There is very broad 1st Amendment rights on the media to publish stories, as long as they didn't do the illegal act to begin with and just received information. However the leaker is in massive trouble.

[Scoobz0202]

Yeah, anybody who looked at that chart that isn't directly involved in his care is likely fired unless they can prove beyond a reasonable doubt they didn't do it.

[stevew]

It would be hilarious if someone leaked some records about Schefter some day.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Scoobz0202

I don't know. That picture is part of a computer screen. I've never let a patient look at their chart on the computer. Only certain people have access to it. To take a picture of it had to be some medical personnel. Either way, somebody is really going to be regretting their decision.

I stood in a hospital last month staring -- kind of unconsciously to be honest -- at all sorts of patient chart stuff pretty much like what was tweeted. Nurses weren't AWOL or anything, it was simply a function of how the workspace was laid out. Enough computers, enough work stations, it ain't THAT hard to get a shot like this one, depending upon the hospital I guess.

[dubb93]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

I stood in a hospital last month staring -- kind of unconsciously to be honest -- at all sorts of patient chart stuff pretty much like what was tweeted. Nurses weren't AWOL or anything, it was simply a function of how the workspace was laid out. Enough computers, enough work stations, it ain't THAT hard to get a shot like this one, depending upon the hospital I guess.

In my state this would be illegal. Anything that contains more than room numbers and primary diagnoses (like this JPP screen) is required to be protected. I would imagine the hospital you were in were in violation of some rules and would have stood to face some hefty fines depending on which agency walked in the door to look around on that particular day.

In my state all computers are required to have a protective screen on them that basically blurs out everything unless you are sitting directly in front of them. Again, not having these on a single computer means you stand to face a hefty fine. That isn't to say that I haven't seen places get inspection dates before hand and run around and put them up JUST for those inspections. I have seen that.

[bhlloy]

Originally Posted by dubb93

In my state this would be illegal. Anything that contains more than room numbers and primary diagnoses (like this JPP screen) is required to be protected. I would imagine the hospital you were in were in violation of some rules and would have stood to face some hefty fines depending on which agency walked in the door to look around on that particular day.

In my state all computers are required to have a protective screen on them that basically blurs out everything unless you are sitting directly in front of them. Again, not having these on a single computer means you stand to face a hefty fine. That isn't to say that I haven't seen places get inspection dates before hand and run around and put them up JUST for those inspections. I have seen that.

Yeah, that's my experience working with HIIPA. If the auditors happened to be around and you left your screen unlocked or any kind of patient information out you could expect to be disciplined up to termination because of how hefty the fines were. Was almost me when I was on vacation unreachable and they came by, thankfully a coworker was smart enough to clean up my desk on very short notice when he realized what was going on.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

Yeah, that's my experience working with HIPAA

+1, though at this point since i work from home its all theory to me. I work with lots of 3rd party vendors where we share transaction data back and forth for normal technical support. Someone accidentally sent a file with a patient's data to a vendor that wasn't encrypted once, we all had the right to share the data as part of the technical aspects of HIPAA, but b/c it wasn't encrypted both sides had to "self report" it as a thing that happened and we had to hold a couple meetings as part of the protocol for dealing with things like that. No one was at risk of getting fired though.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by dubb93

In my state all computers are required to have a protective screen on them that basically blurs out everything unless you are sitting directly in front of them. Again, not having these on a single computer means you stand to face a hefty fine. That isn't to say that I haven't seen places get inspection dates before hand and run around and put them up JUST for those inspections. I have seen that.

Hrm, wonder if where I was standing made a difference (like I said, I wasn't really thinking about it beyond "damn that's kinda cool")

Pre-surgical holding area -- kinda like mini-rooms -- 2:1 patient to nurse ratio in the four room little area. 2 nurses, 2 workstations, I stepped out of m-in-law's room for a minute cause it was getting claustrophobic, just kinda standing there in the hallway & they were both doing their thing. I made small talk for a couple minutes, all very pleasant enough ... but I know I was looking at what I'd refer to as a "chart" like used to hang on/outside the door. Meds, food, vitals, scheduled procedures, etc.

Hell, the whole conversation was about the airport style "destination / arrival" boards on the wall (which I'd never seen before, I don't do a lot of hospitals). Every patient, every room number, their scheduled time in a given ER #.

{shrug}

[stevew]

I don't know how different HIPAA is for health care care providers but I had to take a test to be HIPAA certified and it was literally "you can read all this shit, or just pass a small quiz which you only need to be 70%ish right on".

And I think you could keep taking it as many times as needed. And all the answers were fundamentally obvious and were more or less "don't be an asshole with people's private information/share it with anyone"

Also can Schefter be compelled to reveal his source since the source could (maybe) be prosecuted for a criminal violation of HIPAA?

[Scoobz0202]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Hrm, wonder if where I was standing made a difference (like I said, I wasn't really thinking about it beyond "damn that's kinda cool")

Pre-surgical holding area -- kinda like mini-rooms -- 2:1 patient to nurse ratio in the four room little area. 2 nurses, 2 workstations, I stepped out of m-in-law's room for a minute cause it was getting claustrophobic, just kinda standing there in the hallway & they were both doing their thing. I made small talk for a couple minutes, all very pleasant enough ... but I know I was looking at what I'd refer to as a "chart" like used to hang on/outside the door. Meds, food, vitals, scheduled procedures, etc.

Hell, the whole conversation was about the airport style "destination / arrival" boards on the wall (which I'd never seen before, I don't do a lot of hospitals). Every patient, every room number, their scheduled time in a given ER #.

{shrug}

A lot of units have boards kind of like that. But they have no patient identifier on them, like a name would be ID2905, and no personal information outside of who their nurse is, maybe primary doctor, room #. Nothing about them personally.

If a nurse is walking around with a rolling computer with patient information up and logged in while she steps away, or leaves a computer on at the nurses station when she walks away, she is just being negligent. On our unit all you do is Windows+L to lock it when you walk away, and just put your password in to log back in to right where you left off.

[Eaglesfan27]

Our hospital has all computers lock down their screen if left unattended for more than 30 seconds without something being pressed on them.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Scoobz0202

A lot of units have boards kind of like that. But they have no patient identifier on them, like a name would be ID2905, and no personal information outside of who their nurse is, maybe primary doctor, room #. Nothing about them personally.

The very existence of the boards was fascinating to me, I'd never seen anything remotely like them before (hey, I've been lucky, it'd been a number of years since I'd stepped foot inside a hospital). But these definitely had names ... 'cause I didn't know m-in-law's room number or ID number but knew exactly where she was, whether they were on schedule, etc. It was like she was a Delta airplane heading for Brussels.

If a nurse is walking around with a rolling computer with patient information up and logged in while she steps away, or leaves a computer on at the nurses station when she walks away, she is just being negligent. On our unit all you do is Windows+L to lock it when you walk away, and just put your password in to log back in to right where you left off.

Purely for clarity's sake ('cause it really don't matter none)... no rolling involved in my case, the computers I saw were at fixed stations. What I'd think of as like a "satellite nurses station", similar to what you see (used to see?) for things like ICU. That's where they sat when they weren't tending to their two assigned patients directly.

And fwiw, hippo or no hippo. I was astonished from start to finish with the quality of care m-in-law got, the even more amazing attention to detail & tending to family members that was done, truly from start to finish one of the finest customer service experiences I've gotten from any field in years.
If they botched some regulation somewhere, honestly, I've got about zero fucks to give about it, they got the things I consider exponentially more important right & in a big time way.

[stevew]

Hardy reduced from 10->4 games

[JeeberD]

...and apparently going to try and get it reduced further, down to 2 games.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/dal...ot-be-over.ece

[cartman]

That means that Brady's appeal is probably going to result in a lifetime ban.

[EagleFan]

Jerry Jones must have paid someone off.

[miami_fan]

Aaron Kromer, Buffalo Bills offensive line coach, arrested on battery charge

Based on the relative discussion in the Jared thread, it will be interesting to learn the ages ago of the "boys".

Also, I thought this guy's career after he was caught snitching.

[Dutch]

SMDH

[stevew]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

Aaron Kromer, Buffalo Bills offensive line coach, arrested on battery charge

Based on the relative discussion in the Jared thread, it will be interesting to learn the ages ago of the "boys".

Also, I thought this guy's career after he was caught snitching.

Obviously something he shouldn't have done, given his profile. But still kind of falls under the classic "teaching kids a lesson for fucking with other people's stuff" with a bit of a psycho twist.

Unless they were like 10, but I really doubt it.

[Dutch]

Grown men shouldn't be throwing punches at people young enough to be their kids or old enough to be their dad.

[BillJasper]

Originally Posted by Dutch

Grown men shouldn't be throwing punches at people young enough to be their kids or old enough to be their dad.

+1

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Dutch

Grown men shouldn't be throwing punches at people young enough to be their kids or old enough to be their dad.

While I agree with the spirit of this, and I 100% agree if we're talking kids or doddering old men, I can think of some age ranges when it would be acceptable, presuming the reason for throwing the punch in the first place was justified.

[BillJasper]

Just pull out the offset language...

Titans CEO says team won’t budge on offsets for Marcus Mariota | ProFootballTalk

If you're cutting Mariota before four years, then your franchise is screwed anyway.

[cartman]

Looks like Dez is gonna get paid. 5 year/$70 mil with $45 mil guaranteed.

[Logan]

And the Broncos and Thomas agree soon after. Really puts those collusion claims to rest.

[bob]

Originally Posted by BillJasper

Just pull out the offset language...

Titans CEO says team won’t budge on offsets for Marcus Mariota | ProFootballTalk

If you're cutting Mariota before four years, then your franchise is screwed anyway.

What are offsets - I can't seem to find a description of them.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by Logan

And the Broncos and Thomas agree soon after. Really puts those collusion claims to rest.

Weren't both teams looking at having to pay their WR triple the highest position salary if they were found to have colluded with each other? I'd say they were pretty motivated to avoid that outcome.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by bob

What are offsets - I can't seem to find a description of them.

Tennessee Titans determined to have offset language in quarterback Marcus Mariota's contract

Offset language allows teams to recapture guaranteed money if the player is released and signs with another team.

If the Titans give Mariota a contract without offset language, that would allow him to "double dip" and receive payment from another team as well as from the Titans should he not play out his deal.

[bob]

Thanks - if a QB gets cut on his first contract, how much is his next contract really going to be for? They won't recover too much, right?

[Galaril]

Originally Posted by Logan

And the Broncos and Thomas agree soon after. Really puts those collusion claims to rest.

Hopefully Thomas is not a product of Manning being there.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Galaril

Hopefully Thomas is not a product of Manning being there.

Thomas was pretty good as a kiddie receiver with the Anointed One, too. I think he'll be fine.

[stevew]

Thomas is a freak. New contract + mom coming home, I'd say he won the week.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Excited to see the Houston contract done. Really opens up some options for the team and shows loyalty to the star players.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Excited to see the Houston contract done. Really opens up some options for the team and shows loyalty to the star players.

You need to give someone the richest contract in history at their position to show loyalty?