Chris Bosh taking Heat’s medical exams, awaiting clearance
The Heat has been putting forward Chris Bosh through a physical examination and a battery of tests this week, and he still had not been cleared medically to return as of Wednesday morning, according to an NBA-employed official with knowledge of the situation.
The Heat is expected to analyze the results before determining whether Bosh will be cleared in advance of the start of training camp Tuesday.
Bosh indicated last week that he fully expected to be cleared by the Heat to resume his career. The Heat has become more comfortable with the idea of Bosh taking blood thinners and playing, Bosh and union officials were led to believe in recent weeks.
Bosh also was led to believe that the Heat would clear him to play, and that was his expectation entering a round of medical tests this week.
But the Heat has hesitated to clear him yet before studying results of a battery of tests this week.
If Bosh is not cleared, he is expected to pursue the issue with the NBA Players Association. He has said he has every intention of playing this season.
Bosh and Heat doctors have not seen eye-to-eye, dating to March, when Bosh found a doctor who was receptive to clearing him to play, and Heat doctors strongly disagreed.
In his continuing series for the digital series Uninterrupted, Bosh revealed Tuesday that after a blood clot was discovered in his calf in February, Heat doctors “told me my season is over, my career is probably over. And this is just how it is.
“I felt… I was written off, put it to the side and matter-of-factly. If a doctor tells me this is how it is and I don’t buy that, then I think I have the right to disagree with you. I know inside me I have a lot of talent, a lot of ability. I know I have it. It’s not a matter of if I’m going to play again, it’s when. So I took the bull by the horn.”
Bosh hired his own doctors this summer and has found at least one who said he can play while taking blood thinners that are out of his system by game time, a routine followed by NHL player Tomas Fleishmann.
The Heat continues to decline comment on Bosh.
Bosh has missed the post-All Star break schedule of the past two Heat seasons because of blood clots.
Bosh said he knew he had a problem this past season when he woke up with a sore calf on the Thursday before the All-Star Game.
“That’s when I got a little nervous,” he told Uninterrupted. “I immediately went to the hospital to get it checked out. That’s when they eventually told me I had a small clot in my leg. My initial thoughts were you have to be kidding.”
Bosh will do a Facebook live chat with NBA power broker Maverick Carter at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday.
This story was originally published September 21, 2016 at 10:55 AM with the headline "Chris Bosh taking Heat’s medical exams, awaiting clearance."