Football Concussion Lawsuits Start To Hit High Schools

HughPickens.com writes Michael Tarm reports that a former high school quarterback has filed a lawsuit against the Illinois High School Association saying it didn't do enough to protect him from concussions when he played and still doesn't do enough to protect current players. This is the first instance in which legal action has been taken for former high school players as a whole against a group responsible for prep sports in a state. Such litigation could snowball, as similar suits targeting associations in other states are planned. "In Illinois high school football, responsibility — and, ultimately, fault — for the historically poor management of concussions begins with the IHSA," the lawsuit states. It calls high school concussions "an epidemic" and says the "most important battle being waged on high school football fields ... is the battle for the health and lives of" young players. The lawsuit calls on the Bloomington-based IHSA to tighten its head-injury protocols. It doesn't seek damages. "This is not a threat or attack on football," says attorney Joseph Siprut, who reached a $75 million settlement in a similar lawsuit against the NCAA in 2011. "Football is in danger in Illinois and other states — especially at the high school level — because of how dangerous it is. If football does not change internally, it will die. The talent well will dry up as parents keep kids out of the sport— and that's how a sport dies." Previous research has shown that far from innocuous, invisible injuries, concussions confer tremendous brain damage. Individuals with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) may show symptoms of dementia, such as memory loss, aggression, confusion and depression, which generally appear years or many decades after the trauma. "The idea that you can whack your head hundreds of times in your life and knock yourself out and get up and be fine is gone," says Chris Nowinski. "We know we can't do that anymore. This causes long-term damage."

Comments

Helmets with Sensors

[Danathar]

I know it's being tried at some colleges and high schools, but it would not surprise me if mandatory sensors that communicate to central monitoring station at games and practices are required in the future.

I'd imagine that a threshold of G's and number of times during play time or practice will require the player to sit out for a period of time or for the game/practice.

Only a matter of time.

Here's an idea

[diamondmagic]

Concussions are caused by sudden forces applied to the brain, right?

Well then, let's get rid of the helmets. No, really. It's not like there's hard game pieces flying towards your head at 90+ MPH (hockey, baseball, lacrosse). The only long-term damage that a helmet can protect against is skull fractures. Other than that, they reduce the pain associated with hitting your head, making it easier to damage your brain.

Re:Here's an idea

[Anonymous Coward]

And we should give it a different name so people don't get confused.

I vote for "rugby".

Re:Here's an idea

[Deadstick]

The boxing glove did much the same thing. The human head is several pounds of thick bone, and the human hand is basically chicken drumsticks; a bare-knuckle boxer couldn't hit a man in the head very hard without breaking his fingers. The object was to hit the supraorbital ridges, opening cuts. The plentiful blood flow in the head assured that the opponent would be blinded by blood, and the fight was over. It also left him looking like the second-place winner in a knife fight, and public revulsion caused boxing bans in many jurisdictions.

The industry headed that off by inventing the boxing glove, which cut down on the lacerations. It also hardened the fist enough that a powerful man can deliver a maximum-effort blow. Result: boxing changed from a face-rearranging sport to a brain-damaging sport.

About fucking time

[overshoot]

I'm an emergency medic and unfortuntately meet a lot of kids who have been concussed -- and when they come in saying, "I think I have a concussion, it feels like the ones I get playing football" it's all I can do to not lose my shit right there. The story is always the same: kid gets his bell rung, is either unconscious or maybe A&Ox2 on the field, and if he's more or less functional by the end of the game, he's back on the field.

Those brain cells are gone for good -- and we're talking about minors who are acting under the care of an adult in authority.

Re:Public healthcare and balanced risk.

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

It would simplify some of the coding and billing; but it wouldn't solve the problem that we currently have basically nothing on the table for treating this class of brain injury. At the level of gross anatomy the damage is quite modest, not necessarily even visible until you slice 'n stain postmortem; but it's usually reported as a grab-bag of psychological issues(depression, lack of focus, loss of energy, emotional disregulation, etc.) that can be quite hard on the patient and which have no terribly reliable treatments. If an SSRI and maybe a psychostimulant work for you, then great, your insurance coverage does matter. If not, though, it doesn't matter if you can afford neural repair nanites or not because they simply cannot be had.

Re:When did jocks become such pussies?

[BarbaraHudson]

Let me guess - you played a LOT of football without a helmet?

Let it die.

[TechyImmigrant]

> If football does not change internally, it will die.

Good.

Then schools and colleges can get back to academic disciplines.
If people want group sports, go to the local sports center and sign up.
Sports fuck up the priorities of schools and colleges to their detriment.

Tort System

[Etherwalk]

1. Fully socialised healthcare and comprehensive welfare state like all the most advanced countries in the world do it, then there'd be no need to have this sort of inefficient, risk-avoisive bullshit just because people fear being fucked for life over a moderate injury;

Wrong.

The purpose of the tort system is to incentivize people to act reasonably. It has big costs--a bunch of jerks trying to get money--but that's what it's all about.

Socialized healthcare takes care of the cost to the individual who is harmed--it does not incentivize the high school to act reasonably.

If I was running a school system ...

[jamesl]

... I'd get rid of football. It has nothing to do with education. It costs money that schools don't have (or so the teachers' unions and school boards tell us); it causes short term and long term health problems and it exposes school systems, school employees and taxpayers to expensive and potentially ruinous lawsuits.

All downside. No upside.