A High Court judge in England has found that Tottenham was in breach of its duties to a 17 year old youth team player who suffered a cardiac arrest and suffered brain damage while playing his first game for the club.
Before singing for Spurs in 2006 an ECG found Radwan Hamed’s heart to be “unequivocally abnormal”. However, Hamed was not stopped playing and collapsed six minutes into his first game for the club in August 2006.
The BBC reports that damages in the case could reach £7m (€9.5m).
Hamed’s father, Raymon, says there was negligence on the parts of both the club doctors and the cardiologist who screened his son 11 months before the cardiac arrest. Hamed's parents were not made aware of the results of his screening - neither was the player.
The court ruled that 70 per cent of the blame lay with Tottenham and 30 per cent with the cardiologist, Peter Mills. Mills was the FA’s regional cardiologist for South East England.
The judge said: "The Club doctors were not only in effect the claimant's general practitioners, but specialist sports physicians who were (or should have been) well-acquainted with the cardiac risk faced by young athletes.
"It was their responsibility, as specialist physicians and employers, to ensure that relevant risks were identified and communicated to the claimant and his parents to enable them to make an informed decision as to whether to bear them.
"In this, they singularly failed," he added.
In a statement the club said it "wholeheartedly regrets that a former employee... was remiss in their duties to Radwan."
The club also said that they believe, “this judgment will hopefully now secure the best possible treatment and care for him.
"The club has been supportive of Radwan and his family over the past 10 years and we wish them well for the future."
All new academy players are required to undergo screening for any potential heart defects as part of an FA effort to protect against incidents of young athletes suffering from unidentified heart defects.
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