Dr. Robert N. Meek
Janwary 14, 2009
MMs, Rose Mary Eves
NEL Player Benefits
Ste. 2420, 200 Saint Paul Street
Baltimore, Md, USA
21201-2008
Dear Ms. Eves: ze: Mr. Andrew Stewart
This és a disability report on Mr, Stewart as requested ie memo dated January 8,
2009. Ihave enclosed the Physiciaa’s Report form.
| saw Mr. Stewart in the office on January 14, 2009, He was pleasant and co-
‘operative throughout the examination and showed no tendency to exaggerate his
symptoms.
He is 37 years old and is 6foot $ inches tall and woighs 300 pounds. He entered the
examining room in obvious pain and with a limp aod had difficulty sitting in a chair
‘and getting up fiom it
He went to university in Cincinnati and played footheli were without injury. He
completed a degree with a major in criminal justice, He was drafted inthe 4° round
by the Cleveland Browns and attended their training camp in the summer of 1990.
Dring training ke stepped in a hole on the fold during a drill and felt a‘pop” in hits
Hight Achilles” tendon, He was found (o have a partial tear and was immobilized for
atime ina boot. (Dr. Rerfeld) He ended up with quite a prolonged reeovery and
‘misoed the whole season.
‘The following summer, 1991 he joined the Cincinoafi Bengals. On July 30 of thal
year in.a practice he took a chop block ou his left knee und was taken off the field.
‘He was diagnosed as having a tom Jeft anterior cruciate ligament and 4 torn lateral
meniscus. On August 14, 1991, hc had repair of his
‘With the 492s, he went to Barcelona, Spain, for a
» fora pre-season game, While
brattcing there, he suffered an injury to his right hand. He tells me be had an Xray
is hand in Baroclona which ‘Wee toviewed. by the tiner and the teamphysicisn, ,‘The decision was made to inject the injured area with local anesthetic end have hira
play in the game. About 10 days after this injury be retumed to Seo Francisco with
a very swollen hand and saw Gordon Brody al the Stanford University Medical
Center. Dr. Brody made the diagnosis of a 10 day old complex closed intra-artieuale
‘fracture of the head and neck of the right 2” metacarpal. He did an open reduction
of this on August 10, 1993. He desoribed the injury as complex and the surgery 48
difficult, taking 2 brs., partly because of the 10 day delay between the injury and
‘treatment. He missed the rest of the 1993 season_
He left the San Francisco 49ers and took up employment with the British Columbia
Lions of the Canadian Football League and played the 1994 season. His team won
‘the Canadian championship that year. He also played tbe 1995 season and then went
to Toronto. In Toronto in December of 1996, after the season, he underwent
arthroscopy and lateral menisceciomy of the right knee and was recorded to have.
cstooarthrtis in the knee
1n 1997, while with the Toronto Argonauts, he suffered an elbow injury which was
diagnosed as a partial tear or hematoma in the right triceps with a large olecranon
‘bupsitis. The olecranon bursa was excised. ‘The following year in September of
1998 he underwent a repeal arthroscopy of the left knee and another partial
meniscectoray.
As a result of all his injuries and associated pain he retired froma football but decided
tose-sign with Toronto in2000. Unfortunately, ix 2000, in training camp, he
suffered a tear ofthe distal right quadriceps tendon, which was repaired. This injury
Silly ended his foctbell career.
After football he stayed in Canada, his wife iea Canadian. Ske works in the hotel
industy and they have 3 children. They currently live in Suey, BC.
Asa result of hs injuries, he was unable to pass the physical examivation for
sraployment in the criminal justice system for which he had been trained in college.
He was employed for time with e friend who had a landscape design business, His
pain and disability ftom injuries to his musculolskeletal system mace it difficult for
‘bim to perform this work. ‘He was unable to use tools necessary for the trade and
unable to walk and stand for Jong periods.
He says his left elbow was examined and scoped at the Eagle Ridge Hospital locally
‘ut he couldn’t remember the name of the surgeon and [ have no records of this. He
tells me he was told he had arthritis in the elbow ard a tom triceps,
Since 2003, he bas been unemployed aud his wife has essentially been the
breadwinner of the family.
‘Bis curreat status is that he has constant pain in his left kneo. He cannot squat, He
has difficulty getting out of chair. Stairs are hard to negotiate and ke cannot cary
his 3 year old up the stairs.
BiCG JAN 15 2008ancy 14, 2008
Pose 3
‘Bis right arm is weak at the elbow particularly in extension.
He cannot do anything vigorous or precise wit his right hand beoause of pain,
‘weakness and inability o fully actively fx his right index Singer. He can't write
well.
Re has weakaess of the right calf and camot do a toe raise on that side,
‘He has in the past been on various pain medications including feirly swong narcoties
like Percodan and Oxycontin. He does not take thom now. He uses about 10 Advil
per day.
‘When ! examine bim, I find that he has a moderately stiff neck with about half the
normal expected motion but has no neck pain or tenderness. His shoulders both
move well and have no weakness. His loft upper extremity is norraal.
His right elbow. Hes a fixed flexion deformity of about 10 degrecs and flexes to
about 110. His elbow is weak in extension. He can resist gravity but nol much
more. There is a palpable defect in the triceps just above the olecranon and 2 bulge
in the proximal iceps. There is a surgical scat over nis elbow.
‘He has full pro and supination and his wrist is nommel. The right 2°"
taetararpophelangeal joint (MCP) has a scar ovcr it. Passively, he has an almost fall
ange af motion, Actively, he can only fiex af the MCP to about 25 degrees but he
assists some times with his Jong finger, He has weakness of extension of the MCP.
‘The abduction end adduction are strong. There is particular weatmets of the flexor