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Ajax take responsibility for Nouri condition
Posted By Admin On June 25th, 2018 09:46 PM | Eredivisie, News
Ajax held a press conference on Monday where the club took full responsibility for what happened to Abdelhak Nouri last summer.
By Michael Bell
Nouri collapsed on the pitch during a friendly with Werder Bremen last July and was hit by a cardiac arrest and sustained serious and permanent brain damage. Ajax have since stated that they were not responsible for Nouri’s current condition.
However, on Monday Ajax held a press conference where a clearly emotional Edwin van der Sar explained that after a new expert investigated the incident they found out that the treatment Nouri received was inadequate.
Van der Sar said, “On the basis of new insights that we have unfortunately only been able to collect very recently, we come to new conclusions. It means that the treatment of Abdelhak on the field in Austria in July, 2017 was inadequate. We, therefore, recognise a liability for the consequences thereof. First of all, I would like to apologise to the Nouri family at this place for allowing us to change our position so late.
“Last year we paid a lot of attention to the medical treatment on the field in Austria with regard to Abdelhak’s accident. A lot has been said and written about that. Unfortunately, we ended up in a situation in which, for a short time, our conclusions and those of the family and her advisers have diverged. I want to emphasise that we regret that this is so.
“As a club, we first based our analysis of the treatment on the field on the information we received from our own people, but also on television images and other medical data. An external medical advisor, who was assisted by an intensive care physician, assessed all available information of that moment for us and provided a professional second opinion.
“At a certain moment the situation was this: after all available information was submitted by Ajax to his medical and legal advisers, they concluded that the treatment on the field was adequate and that on the basis of that conclusion there is no reason for liability from the club. This judgement is also based on television images and on the reading of the heart rate monitor Abdelhak had.
“A heartbeat was detected by the practitioners on the field and this was subsequently confirmed by the results of the heart rate monitor. Based on that information and external opinion, we as a club have taken the position that there was no reason to assume that the field did not work well.
“The petition filed by the Nouri family with the Dutch FA [KNVB] contained new information for us, which was an important reason to ask other experts for a third opinion. We have begun to doubt the conclusions of our advisers. And we obviously wanted 100 per cent certainty that our position was correct. Hence questions arose about the information underlying the previous medical advice and the position taken on that basis. This had to be investigated further. In the interest of Abdelhak and his family. And of the other players, employees and supporters of Ajax.
“The findings of the cardiologists about the actions in the field are clear:
1. There wasan insufficient focus on measuring the heartbeat, the circulation and a possible resuscitation, and had a long time focus on the release of the airway from Abdelhak.
2. The existing defibrillator should have been used earlier to get a better picture of the situation.
3. The practitioners, after releasing the airway, had to incorporate a moment of reflection because the situation did not improve.
“The cardiologists also found it unlikely that after the collapse of Abdelhak there was actually some time of effective blood circulation. If the defibrillator had been deployed, this would have been proven and the resuscitation could have already started. If that had been done, Abdelhak might have come out better. The latter is not a certainty, but it is possible. “
He added, “The use of the arbitration case was whether we acted adequately in the field. That is not the case and we obviously take responsibility for that. We have also previously promised the family that if we find out that we are wrong, we will take responsibility. Which regulation this is going to lead to is something that we will first discuss with the family. I want to offer our very deep apologies to Abdelhak, also in front of you, on behalf of Ajax, his family and relatives.
“It must have been terribly frustrating that it took so long that our lectures diverged, on top of the grief of what happened to Abdelhak.”
Van der Sar contacted the Nouri family on Monday to tell them the news and the club will discuss with them the next steps. Ajax’s players were also told the news on Monday, while van der Sar urged the media to leave the Nouri family alone.