LOS ANGELES, Aug. 9 (UPI) -- Ex-Minnesota Viking Fred McNeill, diagnosed with early-onset dementia, has filed a workers' compensation case against the Vikings, a California law firm says.
McNeill, a Vikings linebacker from 1974 to 1985, became a lawyer after he retired from football, specializing in workers' compensation cases.
He voluntarily suspended his license in California where he lives because he no longer can practice, allegedly because of repeated head trauma from playing professional football, his wife said.
"He's doing OK," Tia McNeill told the St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press in a telephone interview from the couple's Los Angeles home.
"It's not like he's going after the Vikings per se. Believe me, Fred has no angst against the Vikings. There's no anger there. We're still Vikings fans."
They primarily want to ensure future medical expenses for McNeill, who is on Social Security disability, are covered, she said.
She said her husband was tested about four weeks ago at UCLA, and they are awaiting results.
"Fred's test is the first ever (on a living person) where they will be able to actually give a diagnosis with CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy), where the neuro pathways become blocked because of head trauma."
"The good news is, if they can determine it on someone alive, they hopefully can develop something to help combat it," she said. "That's my hope."
