Litigation

Congress to look into football and concussions for a third time-My Suggestions

By Michael Kaplen

The House Judiciary Committee has just announced that it will hold what is billed as a forum rather than a hearing to exam the handling of brain injuries in high school and college sports on February 1 in Houston, Texas.

No witnesses and no agenda have been announced.

Here are my suggestions:

Perhaps the committee can look at means of establishing a national consensus on sports concussions and the need to keep players out of the game until they achieve a full recovery. 

The committee also needs to look at establishing mandatory training for coaches and trainers on the high school and college levels so that they are able to recognize the signs and symptoms of concussions and the dangers of allowing players to return prematurely.

The committee needs to eliminate the exemption granted to professional sports and allow players to sue teams for their brain damage when reckless conduct has permitted and encouraged their return to play before appropriate clearance.

Finally, the committee needs to change the ERISA laws that give the disability plans the unfettered discretion to reject legitimate brain injury disability claims, allow players to present their grievances on courts of law and allow players whose claims have previously been rejected to reopen their file and be granted a fair and complete review.

Read the full New York Times report: Forum on Football Brain Injuries Set For Houston

Full post as published by Brain Injury News and Information on January 07, 2010 (boomark / email).