Last May, a 31-year-old former NFL player was diagnosed with early-stage dementia after reporting to a doctor that he had memory problems and difficulty helping his son with homework. That month, the same man received a master’s degree in business administration.
The doctor who made the diagnosis, Serina Hoover, frequently evaluated other NFL retirees seeking to receive payments under the league’s landmark concussion settlement. But Ms. Hoover, a California neuropsychologist, later was disqualified from making evaluations after her reports were found to contain irregularities, including that she had spent 273 hours working on cases in less than a week.