Kim Michael Cullen Personal Injury Law Blog on Lawyers.com

NFL's new brain injury policy is a no-brainer

Sunday, November 22, 2009 by Kim Michael Cullen

Kudos to the National Football League for announcing a new policy today wherein teams are required to have brain injured players evaluated by independent neurologists before allowing the players to return to the field.  Until now, teams were free to have players evaluated by team-selected physicians before giving the okay to play.  This practice led to some debate about whether team physicians had conflicts of interest in deciding to allow players back on the field.

As more research becomes available from the medical community, we are becoming more and more aware of the seriousness of injuries to the brain, and particularly the compounding negative effects of multiple concussions suffered by the brain.  These types of injuries are not limited to football players, and are often experienced in car and truck accidents.  The NFL is admirably trying to stay up with the latest research.  Starting this season, all players were required to under basic neurological testing so that a baseline could be established to compare to if the player received a brain injury.

The next step forward for the NFL is to further educate its players to recognize even the minor effects of brain injury.  Historically, players are trained to "play through" pain, dizziness, disorientation, and other signs of brain injuries.  We have a similar challenge in educating our personal injury clients.  Players and clients alike need to realize that any kind of brain injury is serious and deserves attention.  Hopefully, the NFL will continue to demonstrate that it cares about the long-term wellness of its players.

For more information about traumatic brain injuries and your rights after an accident or collision, contact us at www.cullen-law.com.

Posted at 23:20 PM
Topic: Personal Injury
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