On behalf of Shea & Shea – A Professional Law Corporation posted in Brain Injury on Friday, September 21, 2012.
In the past, hitting your head in a high school football game was referred to as “getting your bell rung.” Football head injuries were a part of the game and those with a concussion or another brain injury were simply told to get back in and play. Yet many of those “once tough” football stars now have constant headaches, cognitive degradation, and other medical issues because of the head injuries that were taken lightly and never treated. After an off-season which included two suicides by former NFL players and growing research which has pointed to the serious penalties that can accompany a brain injury, nearly every state has started their high school football season with legislation to protect young athletes from potentially damaging head injuries.
At Washington High School in Massillon, Ohio, the assistant principal says he has seen first-hand the peer pressure that teens feel to play football even through a concussion. When he was in high school, he says that he suffered four concussions and he never took a respite to recover. He discovered one concussion after the game when he couldn’t remember any details of what went on that night. The principal says that he was told to play through the concussion. Back then, he says that coaches had no idea that brain injuries need time to heal too.
The Ohio High School Athletic Association has devised rules to immediately remove a player and provide him medical attention if he shows signs of having a concussion during a game. These rules are requirements, and parents may have the right to litigate if the school doesn’t abide by them. In addition to Ohio, 15 states have introduced legislation along the same lines this year. 33 states have approved legislation preventing high school football concussions between 2009 and 2011. California is one of those states. If your child is injured in a football game and encouraged by coaches to play through a concussion, then contact a personal injury attorney at Shea & Shea today for representation in your case. If your child suffered undue harm from the accident then you have the right to seek damages!