New law puts NHL great Konstantinov's 24/7 care in jeopardy

WEST BLOOMFIELD, Mich. (AP) — Vladimir Konstantinov has traded hockey sticks for an Uno deck. Many, in fact. The onetime Soviet and Detroit Red Wings star plays so often that he goes through a pack per week, wearing out cards with the hands that once made him one of the world's best defensemen.

During a recent visit to the Konstantinovs' suburban Detroit condominium, he handily defeated his longtime nurse, Pam Demanuel, and smiled. That's about as good as it gets for him these days.

Since suffering severe brain damage when his drunken limousine driver crashed while Konstantinov was a celebrating the first of the Red Wings' back-to-back championships in the late 1990s, the former NHL great and Red Army team captain has had to rebuild his life. Now 55, he needs help walking, eating, drinking and brushing his teeth, and a caregiver stays awake while he sleeps in case he needs to walk to the bathroom. Although he seems to comprehend questions, his answers are limited to a few words and aren't always easy to understand.

Next week, Konstantinov is in danger of losing the round-the-clock care that has enabled him to remain home. Due to the high costs of such care and changes to a Michigan law, he might be moved to an institution where restraints or medication would be necessary to keep him safe.

Konstantinov is the public face of a predicament facing roughly 18,000 Michigan residents who suffered serious traffic-related injuries and have lost their state-funded, unlimited lifetime medical care that every driver used to have to pay into by law. A bipartisan change to the law, which had contributed to Michigan having the country's highest auto insurance rates, took effect last summer and left Konstantinov and the thousands of others who relied on it with worse options.

Faced with the specter of losing his 24/7 care,...