"The Trail Blazers, specifically General Manager Kevin Pritchard, may be in violation of federal regulations in regard to public comments about the medical condition of former player Darius Miles.

Miles underwent microfracture surgery on his right knee and has not played since April 15, 2006. After a long rehabilitation period, the team first ruled him unfit to play and then sought an independent physician%u2019s examination of the knee. That physician ruled Miles%u2019 injury was career ending %u2013 which was important to the Blazers on two fronts that have to do with finances.

First, the $18 million over two seasons left on Miles contract would not count against the team%u2019s salary cap.

Second, insurance would cover much of the cost of Miles%u2019 remaining salary.

If Miles plays 10 games in the league in either of the next two seasons, however, the Blazers would be responsible for the salary out of their own pocket and be forced to count it against their salary cap.

Obviously, that situation creates an incentive for the Blazers to hope Miles never plays again. And perhaps an incentive for the team to be as negative as possible in describing Miles%u2019 chances of ever playing again %u2014 thereby discouraging other teams from taking a chance on him.

%u201CTwo doctors said Darius had the worst microfracture injury they had ever seen,%u201D Pritchard said on an Oregonlive.com blog this week. %u201CThey would never have him play basketball and the odds of having knee replacement surgery is high. I hear that, and as a general manager, I didn%u2019t want it on my conscience %u2014 that I had a kid have to go through a knee replacement surgery. That%u2019s a pretty major surgery. They saw (two bones) and replace (the knee). It%u2019s a bad deal.%u201D

In a story posted April 14 on the Portland Tribune%u2019s Web site, Pritchard said, %u201CThe doctors had actually said, %u2018If you were my son, I%u2019d never have you pick up a basketball again.%u2019 I%u2019m the kind of GM (that) I wouldn%u2019t want that on my head that he ever had to have knee replacement.%u201D

The problem for Pritchard and the Blazers is that those statements could be a violation of the privacy provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Availability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). Since the HIPAA privacy rule went into effect on April 14, 2003, pro and college teams in all sports have been very reluctant to reveal specific details of player injuries without the permission of the player.

Most teams have come to the point where they will reveal only whether a player may sit out a game, but not give any specific details of the injuries. HIPAA%u2019s privacy rule prohibits %u201Ccovered entities%u201D %u2013 often interpreted as employers who provide health care or health-care clinics for employees, which teams do for their players %u2014 from revealing health information about those employees without their consent."