Expert refutes concussion claims in suit against West Mifflin Area School District

The neuropsychologist who invented the widely used ImPACT test to help diagnose concussions testified on Wednesday that symptoms experienced by a West Mifflin man hurt on the high school football field 13 years ago are unrelated to that injury.

Dr. Mark R. Lovell told a jury that he believes Shane Skillpa’s symptoms — anxiety, depression and a lack of short-term memory — do not stem from what he called a “mild concussion” sustained on Aug. 24, 2009.

Skillpa, 29, is suing the West Mifflin Area School District, the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League (WPIAL) and the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) for negligence. His trial began Sept. 8 before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Arnold Klein.

The jury is expected to begin deliberations Friday.

Skillpa claims that after he sustained a helmet-to-helmet blow during a drill as a sophomore, the coaches told him to get a new helmet and return to practice. He testified that he never told anyone at the time that he was injured and continued to practice for a few more days before his mother recognized that he looked unwell.

He was diagnosed with a concussion and remained in treatment on and off for two years before he reported feeling 100%.

Skillpa then went on to graduate from high school and attended Slippery Rock University. He began as an exercise science major, later changing to computer science.

However, he alleges that because of recurring symptoms — including migraines — he was unable to continue in computer science.

He later went on to nursing school and currently works as a nurse at Jefferson Hospital, after spending several months in Florida over the past year working as a traveling nurse.

Skillpa claims that he must make accommodations in his work because of his symptoms.

Lovell, who conducted a number of psychological tests on Skillpa and reviewed his medical records, noted to the jury that Skillpa completed his college degree and nursing school.

“This is not consistent with an individual who has post-concussion syndrome, and certainly not consistent with an individual with traumatic encephalopathy or an organic affective disorder,” Lovell wrote in his expert report.

“I think he has psychological problems, yes.”

Lovell said in his report that Skillpa’s initial baseline ImPACT test, administered a year before his concussion, indicated that he already had anxiety and attention difficulties before he was concussed.

The concussion did not exacerbate those, he testified.

On cross-examination, Lovell admitted that if he had been on the field and was aware that Skillpa had been injured that day, he would have removed him from play.

“When in doubt, take them out?” asked Skillpa’s attorney, Anthony J. Plastino II.

“Yes, I believe in that,” Lovell answered.

Expert witness pans other experts’ testimony

As part of his testimony, Lovell panned Skillpa’s expert witnesses in the case, including Dr. Bennet Omalu, who is recognized as being the first doctor to link football with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE.

Omalu, who did not examine Skillpa but reviewed his medical records, testified on Monday that he believes that Skillpa sustained permanent brain damage from the concussion and additional blows to the head in the practices afterward.

He said he believes Skillpa has traumatic encephalopathy, which will continue to worsen and likely lead to a shortened life expectancy.

But Lovell called Omalu’s conclusions “ridiculous.”

“Dr. Omalu is seen as being a real outlier, and I would not suggest he is well-regarded by his colleagues,” Lovell testified.

In Lovell’s report, his words were even stronger, writing that Omalu’s opinions “are not based in fact and have no basis in science or in accepted medical practice.”

Lovell wrote and testified that a diagnosis of CTE cannot be made in a living person and can only be proved after death.

He said that Omalu created the term traumatic encephalopathy syndrome “so that he could (falsely) diagnose CTE in living individuals.

“The indication that Mr. Skillpa has CTE, or what he calls TES, is ridiculous and would be rejected by any qualified brain injury specialist,” Lovell wrote.