Tommy Kurth

valporun · February 17, 2012, 04:46:11 PM

I couldn't tell you why he hasn't been getting minutes. We never really heard anything about the tests that he went to his home doctor for.

PatVU07 · April 18, 2012, 10:23:53 PM

http://etruth.com/article/20120418/SPORT/704189917

The Elkhart Truth talked a little about Tommy's injuries and illnesses over the last few years.

swiftmutiny · April 18, 2012, 10:49:53 PM

Wow, that explains a lot. Also, there is a separate article talking to Bryce about Tommy's future: http://www.etruth.com/article/20120418/SPORT/704189919/-1/sport

vuweathernerd · April 18, 2012, 11:13:09 PM

i agree with swift. that really does explain a lot regarding the lack of playing time. hopefully, tommy can continue to improve and get to those hamburgers.

hckjag · April 19, 2012, 12:15:27 AM

I feel for Tommy. This really does explain a lot. I feel for him as I've also lived with a hiatal hernia for years (not as bad as his from the sound of it). I was told it was genetic and surgery was a last resort. Basically it causes you to feel sick to your stomach frequently, especially after eating anything, which makes it very hard to exercise which would certainly limit his effectiveness. I was lucky enough to find relief by seeing a chiropractor.

Anyone who has had a significant injury/health problem and had to stop physical activity for a period of time can probably attest to how difficult it is to return to an athletic lifestyle. Good luck to Tommy and hope he can come back healthy.

bodieVULaw94 · April 19, 2012, 04:00:14 PM

I read the Elkhart Truth articles, as well. The kid and his family have been through a lot. His illness points out how dangerous jumping to conclusions about a player's playing time can be. I hope he makes a healthy recovery.

covufan · April 19, 2012, 06:27:54 PM

Good luck to him in his recovery. Can't be easy for a young athlete to regain strength after surgury and sickness on a liquid and mac and cheese diet. Will be interesting how he does the next two seasons.

I wonder if he has the option of sitting out a full year - away from school and the team - kind of like a missionary year. He could gain strength and still keep two years eligibility. Just wondering.

StlVUFan · April 19, 2012, 06:34:11 PM

I'm ashamed to say that I thought I knew what a hiatal hernia was, but I was sadly mistaken.

justducky · April 23, 2012, 09:07:23 PM

Glad to hear that the problem has been identified, addressed and that he still might have a significant role in the future of VU basketball.

But, we went the entire seson with almost no imformation being released. As best as I recall we might have been told in November that he was throwing -up occasionally, then in December that his doctor wanted to run a few tests. The next thing we hear comes from links to a couple Elkart Truth articles dated 4-18 that tell us he is recovering from a fundoplication which was performed some time in March.
So as of now there has been nothing mentioned on the VU Athletic Website and to my knowledge nothing mentioned in any of northwest Indianas newspapers. So from this I would have to conclude that there are still a great number of VU fans who buy tickets on a regular or irregular basis, who still have no clue what happened to Tommy Kurth in the 2011-12 basketball season.

Does anybody else here think that we could have been told just a little bit more just a little bit sooner? I do not think that either Tommy or the team would have been put into some kind of competitive disadvantage had a bit more information been leaked. I just think that this could have been handled somewhat better. Thoughts?

wh · April 23, 2012, 09:48:39 PM

Wow, those were my thoughts exactly after reading the Elkhart article. Over the course of the season Tommy goes from playing a little to playing rarely to not playing to not dressing and finally not traveling with the team. Not a word is said by anyone - no articles by Oren or Lazerus, not even a leak from someone in the Athletic Dept. It definitely had the appearance of something shrouded in secrecy. Then lo and behold, some guy from a paper 60 miles explains the whole thing in a few paragraphs and I'm just scratching my head. This was definitely a communication breakdown that needlessly fed the grapevine.

FWalum · April 24, 2012, 09:51:48 AM

Quote from: wh on April 23, 2012, 09:48:39 PMWow, those were my thoughts exactly after reading the Elkhart article. Over the course of the season Tommy goes from playing a little to playing rarely to not playing to not dressing and finally not traveling with the team. Not a word is said by anyone - no articles by Oren or Lazerus, not even a leak from someone in the Athletic Dept. It definitely had the appearance of something shrouded in secrecy. Then lo and behold, some guy from a paper 60 miles explains the whole thing in a few paragraphs and I'm just scratching my head. This was definitely a communication breakdown that needlessly fed the grapevine.

The answer to your questions is simple.... HIPPA. Compliance with HIPPA laws requires that the university and his doctors divulge absolutely zero information to anyone that has not been approved to receive the information. This sometimes results in even family members not being given information by doctors and hospitals. Tommy is allowed to give out the information and evidently decided he would do that with his local paper. The university could have been fined if any information of a protected nature had been released to the public without proper permission and paperwork.

VULB#62 · April 24, 2012, 10:21:19 AM

The HIPAA privacy rule regulates the use and disclosure of Protected Health Information (PHI) by what is termed "Covered Entities (generally, health care clearinghouses, employer sponsored health plans, health insurers, and medical service providers). Applying HIPAA to this situation a very long stretch unless the SID were to make public Kurth's actual medical records without his written permission. The athletic department could well have released information to effect that Kurth had an intestinal problem that has kept him from practicing or playing effectively, and it would be analogous to announcing that someone blew out his ACL and was lost for the season or suffered a concussion and would miss the next game. IMO, maybe the staff just didn't think it was as newsworthy as our board or maybe misunderstood the interest and ramifications. Maybe they just reached some accommodation with Kurth to not talk about it until things got straightened out. I think it was an innocent "let's try and keep it in the family" approach. I think that this is reflected in the ease with which he talked about it to his local paper at season's end.

Valpo89 · April 24, 2012, 12:43:55 PM

HIPPA is a convenient way for schools to say they don't want to release any information. If the player in question doesn't mind talking about the situation, everything is fine.
I know the head coach was asked about Kurth several times, and the answer was always politely evasive along the lines of "still working through some things." And this would have been in the November-December range.

FWalum · April 24, 2012, 01:38:47 PM

We were provided the bare bones information as justducky indicated.. This is different than an injury that is visually apparent or occurred in a game. When I worked in the athletic department at a university we were warned about giving out too much of this type of information.

VULB#62 · April 24, 2012, 07:02:23 PM

Quote from: Valpo89 on April 24, 2012, 12:43:55 PM
HIPPA is a convenient way for schools to say they don't want to release any information. If the player in question doesn't mind talking about the situation, everything is fine.
I know the head coach was asked about Kurth several times, and the answer was always politely evasive along the lines of "still working through some things." And this would have been in the November-December range.

If, indeed, the Valpo athletic department uttered/invoked/hid behind HIPAA it did so erroneously or as an invalid smoke screen. This is directly from the US Department of Health and Human Services about the Health Insurance and Accountability Act (HIPAA):

Who is Covered by the Privacy Rule

The Privacy Rule, as well as all the Administrative Simplification rules, apply to health plans, health care clearinghouses, and to any health care provider who transmits health information in electronic form in connection with transactions for which the Secretary of HHS has adopted standards under HIPAA (the "covered entities").

Note that it is focused Health Insurance. The only part of the university impacted is the infirmary or whatever they call the place on campus where you go when you get sick and you have to show your health insurance card.

I have to reiterate my previously posted opinion regarding the "whys" of the limited released info but I still agree with FWalum that the provided info was bare bones and that Bryce and the athletic department could have done a better job dealing with an obvious issue.

Having said that, and hoping that the HIPAA issue is now forum history, I notice that amidst all the transfer musical chairs that is happening, Kurth's name has not surfaced in any discussions except for his health -- a sign that Bryce intends to use a healthy TK next year