Pennsylvania Injury Lawyer Blog

While fractures, broken bones, and other more tangible sidelining injuries have often received the most attention by organized sports officials, concussions have always posed an insidious yet serious danger. Due to a recent increase in concussion awareness, including a very high profile class action lawsuit in which former National Football League players are suing the league for turning a blind eye toward the problem, this important issue is getting more and more focus. A new Pennsylvania bill joins the growing initiative by implementing new safety measures to battle traumatic brain injuries in young athletes.

The suggested law, the Safety in Youth Sports Act, provides additional rules for educating parents, training athletic coaches, and sets protocol regarding when an athlete is permitted to return to the field or court following a potential concussion.

Specifically, the bill mandates:

• Student athletes, as well as parents, will be educated on the subject prior to participation in any sports teams or events.
• Coaches will be required to complete a yearly course on the prevention and treatment of concussions and brain injuries.
• Coaches will be required to remove any player suspected of, or showing signs of, a concussion during gameplay, and that player may not return to activity until provided written clearance by a doctor or certified medical professional.

Many Pennsylvania schools already have similar systems and guidelines in place, according to Penn Live, so the new law will affect the approximate 20 percent of those that do not employ certified trainers or other related resources for sporting events. Concussions are a serious threat to athletes of all ages and performance levels and can occur in most any sport. If your child has suffered concussion injuries during participation in organized sports, contact a Philadelphia sports injury lawyer with Anapol Schwartz at 1-866-735-2792.

In a recent October issue of The Legal Intelligencer, Larry E. Coben discussed spinal cord and brain injuries in depth, as well as design defects in motor vehicles and helmets that allow such catastrophic injuries to occur in his article “Representing the Catastrophically Injured, Part I.” Coben has represented individuals who have been catastrophically injured or killed nationwide for over 35 years. He is also a shareholder and attorney with Anapol Schwartz.

The severity of head injuries is directly dependent on the rate, direction, and peak of acceleration of the brain and the head. While most head injuries occur in mere seconds, their impact can last a lifetime.

Motorists typically suffer spinal cord and brain injuries related to four aspects of car design:

• If the seat restraint system and “head strike zone” (the roof, windshield, and steering wheel) aren’t designed with head contact taken into account;


• If the seat belts and air bags are poorly designed, with seat belts that poorly restrain the head and upper torso and/or air bags that are inadequately sized and/or fail to deploy;


• If the seat backs fail, which occurs when the seat collapses or the height of the seat permits a motorist’s head to rotate backwards violently;


• If the interior aspects of the motor vehicle have inadequate attenuation, meaning if the instrument panel or roof header intrude into the “head strike zone” or are too stiff. These should be properly padded.

Regarding helmet design, unfortunately, many catastrophic and fatal injuries can be traced to lax standards of helmet testing. Many standards are outdated and permit companies to sell products that proclaim safety but only meet criteria that are obsolete. For example, the ANSI bicycle helmet standard hasn’t updated its testing in over ten years; while the NOCSAE football helmet test standard was adopted in 1973 and only involves a 14 mph or less velocity equivalent. Perhaps most shockingly is the FMVSS218 motorcycle helmet standard, which was implemented in the late 1960s and requires that motorcycle helmets pass an impact test of 400gs in a drop test, but with a velocity of less than 15 mph. Few motorcycle crashes occur at that low of speed.

Many victims of serious car, motorcycle, and bicycle accidents have a higher chance of survival than they did just 10 years ago, thanks to medical advances. However, this means there is a significant number of individuals who have suffered paralyzed spinal cords or serious brain damage, which results in the need for major medical expenses—sometimes projected to exceed $10 million or more for a victim’s lifetime. It is crucial for Philadelphia injury attorneys representing those severely injured to work to ensure their clients receive adequate compensation in order to be provided for.

Far too many of us are quick to view hard hits during NFL football games as replay opportunities glorifying highlights of a well-played game. However, with athletes and parents of athletes hearing about the tragic football accident that killed a 15-year-old high school boy, concern has mounted regarding concussions and their potentially life-threatening risks as well as how the NFL portrays aggressive hits.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on September 1 that the Upper Darby, PA teenager’s head struck another football player’s knee during practice. Even though the young teen was wearing a helmet (and pads), he went into a coma before succumbing to his head injury. According to the article, the young boy was not breathing and had no pulse when police and paramedics arrived at Upper Darby High School in Pennsylvania.

The Los Angeles Times reports on the recent Sports Illustrated special edition covering concussions. The story also addresses the NFL’s decision to fine and even potentially suspend players who are determined to have inflicted deliberately dangerous hits upon other players.

One of the most striking aspects of football-related hits covered in Sports Illustrated centers around a study conducted by researchers at Purdue University. The working memory and visual memory, which are both cognitive skills crucial to learning, of 23 members of Jefferson High School’s football team in Indiana were analyzed in relation to the types of hits they received. It was determined that players who seemed to be the most affected were not the individuals who received the hardest and most flagrant hits. Instead, players who seemed to be the most affected were the ones who took the greatest number of milder hits.

The study also revealed that players sustaining high speed and powerful blows to the head did not display the medical criteria for diagnosing a concussion. This raises concern as to potentially serious head injury and damage that may go overlooked or undetected. It is shocking that we are only beginning to understand the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the effects of blows to the head during sport activities, even when blows to the head are considered to be minor.

With approximately 1.1 million high school football players, and 3 million younger kids participating in tackle football, athletes and parents of athletes must be on high alert for ways to ensure safety and well-being. If you or your child has sustained a serious head injury that you believe was caused by another person’s negligence, contact the Pennsylvania brain injury attorneys at Anapol Schwartz for information regarding your legal rights and options.