It seems pretty ridiculous that the Clippers did not spot this. From what I can gather the Clippers' only test on Mobley was an EKG. An EKG will show the heartbeat and potentially show you signs of an enlarged heart, but it does NOT show you an image of the heart. I was recently diagnosed with potentially having an enlarged valve (false alarm) so I went through the process and saw how simple some of these tests are.
It seems to me that the Clippers were playing loose with Mobley because he had signed a waiver. I can't see any reason why a professional organization wouldn't at the least make a mammogram of his heart standard procedure. This is a disease that gets worse with athletic activity. He was initially diagnoses 10 years ago and his teams did not seem to be legitimately concerned.
Mobley’s most recent physical examination with the Clippers, in September, showed he had an irregular heartbeat, an indication of his enlarged heart. But the Knicks’ director of player care, Dr. Lisa Callahan, was concerned by what she saw in Mobley’s test results here and ordered a magnetic resonance imaging test.
“Getting the M.R.I. basically saved my life,” Mobley said.
We've knocked Dr. Callahan a lot on this board but here is a case of her following common-sense principles.
12/13/2008 11:36 AM