Sometimes you make bad decisions in life - Jonathan Hefney

This is a sad story about a CFL Alumni. Not a Tiger Cat, yet could easily have been one.

(Arguably without his career ending injury this may have had a better outcome).

I know the League fulfilled all of their legal obligations to him, but are there moral obligations as well?

I feel badly for Jonathon Hefney, and would hope that there is some relief for him, perhaps with help through the CFL or CFLPA. However, I also feel your thread title all too accurately describes Hefney's behaviour after his surgery and treatments. Moreover, he seems to now see himself as a perpetual victim, and the writer seemingly paints the CFL and the CFLPA as the villians. I wish him well for a recovery, both physically and mentally.

I have to agree with everything you said. In fact here is the story of another CFL Alumni (who was a Ticat) who dealt with the physical adversity in a much better way. (That he had one of the most important single catches in team history is secondary to his story of success).

It's easy to judge from afar, blessed as we are with universal healthcare. Hopefully none of us have to go through a situation where we are simultaneously deprived of our livelihood, unable to find a job, saddled with a debt we have no hope of repaying, and faced with partial paralysis. It's not hard to imagine how desperation could set in.

Was turning to crime the right answer? Obviously not. But again, most of us never face such a dismal set of circumstances.

To the OP's question, does the CFL have a moral obligation? The answer is: yes.

I don’t know if it was necessarily lack of health care that doomed Hefner as much as his decision to deal drugs. Doing so ruined his life, and conceivably, those who he supplied. For a man trained as a teacher, and thus presumably educated, bad decisions cost him dearly.

I think one led to the other. Without poor healthcare he would not have had to make the (bad) decision to deal drugs. Again though, Joe Hagins, who would have met the same challenge as Hefney, didn’t make the same choice, so it wasn’t inevitable. I think everyone is entitled to make mistakes in life. How you respond to adversity (as in football) really defines you.