Football, Head Injuries, and a 4.4 Million Dollar lawsuit...won.

So will you never let your sons ski or snowboard? Or go horseback riding, or skateboarding? Or do gymnastics, figure skating, rugby or hockey?
I agree that if you allow your child to participate in an activity then you must accept responsibility for the risks, but singling out football doesn't seem fair. I mean, what will you do if your sons LOVE football and REALLY want to play?
All the sports I mentioned above have a higher than normal chance of head/neck/spine injuries and yet I have let my kids do most of them.
Gymnastics was the hardest. I kept imagining my daughter breaking her neck and yet she loved it and was trained well so I let her do it, much to my chagrin
:(
Never say never. Life without risk is hardly a life at all. ETA: however, RESPONSIBLE coaching can and should always be expected and demanded, an injured child should never be forced to play!!!

So, your kid tells his coach that he has a headache, both a week earlier and at the start of the game and asks to sit out. But the coach puts him in the game anyway and he collapses on the field due to an ongoing brain injury, then you should what? Pay for the extensive medical care and equipment that this man will need for the rest of his life by yourself?? And that cost would be approximately what? A few MILLION dollars?!

Most of us do not have a few million dollars. What happens then? Well, you find a way to make sure that your child has the care he needs.

You can argue that our systems are screwed up that this is happening, and I will join in that conversation. But I won't argue with this young man's parents for doing what they needed to do to ensure their son has the life-long care that he will need.

Attention is being brought to the high incidence of brain injury from sports like football. But keeping your kid out of football will not ensure than they never sustain a serious injury. I won't stop my child from being active. But I would do whatever our current systems demand to see that she got high quality care for the rest of her life.

Well, according to the article (and another I read)...multiple warning signs were ignored by the coaching staff. In that case, absolutely he has the right to sue. If he got hit and immediately was injured and was ONLY injured, because of that moment. No. However, his case is different. In my opinion, anyway. Yes, kids know the risks, bit when ADULTS ignore existing symptoms and injuries, they should be held responsible. If it were my son and this happened, and I was left with special needs...I would sue. And, I do NOT believe in suing for most things.

The boy requested to sit, because of a headache, and the coach would not let him. He complained of headaches and other symptoms for at least a week, that the trainers and coaches ignored. He COLLAPSED. Not after being hit right there. He collapsed on the sidelines after at least a WEEK of trying to seek help from coaches. Yep, they screwed up. I played competitive sports, I know things happen. Things DO happen. However, this didn't Just happen. It was a series of events, that could have, and SHOULD have been avoided. There are protocols in place regarding concussions and head trauma. They were NOT followed by the staff.

I believe in cases where protocol is not followed by a trained staff, they open the door for being sued. Had they done what they were supposed to do, that boy would NOT have been able to play, until his head injury healed. They allowed it, even demanded it. Their fault. That's not just an accident, that is also negligence.

PS.
I got a concussion playing soccer in high school. I had to sit a week, and then after a week be seen by a Dr. The Dr. had to apporve me as healthy to play. I had to get tests done. I was cleared to play after three weeks, because I had a headache at one week post concussion. I was a starter on our varsity team and played every minute of every single game. What I'm saying, is I was a needed player. It didn't matter. The staff were required to follow the protocol of concussions. THAT is how you handle a head injury. The boy's school failed him.

Deserves every penny-did not contribute to his own negligence just for participating in the game.

I have a former student who was a water polo player who felt extremely pressured to stay in the game after getting hit hard. Then after the game, she ended up getting checked out and had a concussion. It was the playoffs as she was pressured to play in the next game and to down play her symptoms to the doctor. She came to my office hours because she was still getting severe headaches and could not concentrate enough to finish her work. When I spoke to her about it and told her she should not be playing she became very stessed out and mentioned that her coach was in the room whenever the doctor spoke to her. She absolutely was intimidated by her coach. I talked to her about her rights and the risk of permanent damage. She eventually quit the team. So yeah, I think there are cases of intimidating coaches and in those cases, they deserve to be sued.

I don't want my son playing football, but the liability here doesn't come from the injury itself (for which he assumed the risk), but for the coaching staff and teachers failure to get him medical attention when he showed signs of being injured. Yes, he had every right to sue. Hopefully those coaches will think better next time.
ETA: Holding the coaches responsible and saying they didn't "intentionally" do something are two totally different things. That's why it's called "negligence." The coaches were neglectful of their duty. That doesn't mean they meant for harm to come to their player. I'm sure they didn't. That would make them sadistic bastards. And, no, having headaches doesn't mean the damage is done. If he had treatment, they could have found out what was wrong and at least tried to take care of it. If it was brain swelling, they usually put them in a medically induced coma. If it was a blood clot or aneurysm, they treat with blood thinners or the like. Maybe nothing could have been done, but they don't get the chance to find out.

It is a fine balance. In this case, the coach ignored the warning signs and forced him to play when he requested to sit out. Other times, players knowingly play while injured, or they get injured knowing it is possible. In those instances, I find it hard they can sue since contracts and liabilities are signed. But when neglect happens, that is when suing can happen.

My sister broke her ankle in cheerleading and our coach ignored her, literally, had her roll off the mat so we could continue practicing our stunts and refused to get her any medical care. My sister CRAWLED down the high school hallways till a friend saw her, carried her to her car, where she drove herself to the Dr.

My husband broke his FEMUR playing school soccer in the 7th grade. The coach made fun of him and left him on the field writhing in pain. My fil found him there after practice when he went to pick him up and take him to the hospital.

There are MANY neglectful coaches that ignore warning signs and force players to play through intimidation and manipulation. There are many that do not get medical attention for injured players when it is needed. And that is when suing happens.

Here's how I see it. And I did not read the article. This is just our experience.
Kids are under huge pressure to perform. In any sport, be it football, cheerleading, swimming, fencing.
The kids will minimize pains to continue to perform for their coach, team, school.
Kids will tell us, mom, dad, coaches, teachers "Oh It's nothing. I'm fine"

A good coach will notice the performance of a student as not on par. He will stop the child from injuring himself farther. But if there is a state or district championship on the line and the child is still doing everything he can to minimize the injury he, the coach, may think the child really is OK.

My daughter is a swimmer. She injured herself in the pool. She has been in Physical Therapy for 6 months. I gave her an Ibruprofen to continue on in the early part of the season. I did not know she was allergic to the drug. She stopped breathing in the pool. After we got her out, hooked her to oxygen, and she started breathing on her own again, she thought she was getting back into the water to do her 50 and the relay. She wouldn't listen to me or the Y lifeguard. Coach had to say NO ___________ You are going home!!
She was so upset about letting her team down, of losing time, of not participating.
Another swimmer on our team was told to get out of the water by coach because she was swimming "funny". Turned out she had a shoulder injury from volleyball that she wouldn't own up to.
Another gave himself a concussion while doing the back. He was not allowed back in the water, It killed him, he was so sad and PO'd. But the doctor didn't clear him before finals. Had any one of his parents, the doctors, or coach looked the other way he would have jumped in the pool again.
I would not sue the Y or school for an injury my kids sustain on a team, unless the coach insisted they play knowng they were injured, which may be the case here.
I also have to sign a waiver stating that I know the risk of death in swimming.

This isn't about an accidental head injury, it's about adults - the coaches and any trainers, etc. - ignoring signs of injury and pushing a child to play through injury.

It's too bad that it took an injury of this magnitude and a lawsuit, but maybe this will send enough shock waves through the youth football system to get everyone - at every level - to understand that the health of the players comes before the team, always.

My boys all play hockey and my step-daughter trains in a variety of fighting styles, from traditional karate and boxing to mixed martial arts. Of course the thought of head or spinal cord injuries is on our minds all the time. We've been lucky so far that all of the coaches and trainers that we've worked with take head injuries very seriously. My oldest son was waived through a round of tryouts for a hockey team last year because he had gotten a mild concussion in gym class the week before. The league would not allow him to set foot on that ice without clearance from his pediatrician. They would have arranged a private tryout later if needed. We have kids sit out games all the time, even if they want to play, if there is any question of injury.

It sounds like in this case, the boy had symptoms of injury and voiced his concerns several times and was ordered to play anyway. That's negligence, and that's why the school district settled.

I don't know about every sport, but I know that in order to play hockey or lacrosse, all players have to pay annual membership fees into national leagues that, among other things, insure the players in the case of catastrophic injury.

And your comparison to a broken leg is callous - this boy has lost complete, permanent control of his body forever. His life as he knew it is over, and this could have been prevented. That's what the lawsuit is about.

ETA: in response to your SWH...if course no one thinks they intentionally put the kid on the field to then suffer from a life-changing trauma. It's about NEGLECT. There were clear warning signs that COACHES, who are TRAINED for this, should not have ignored. Clearly you don't get how sports works, especially "tough" sports like football. If the coach tells you to play, as a general rule the player gets out there and plays. Do this boy and his family wish that he hadn't? That he spoke up more, bucked the system etc and insisted on medical care? Sure. But it was the responsibility of the trained staff to recognize injury and insist that the boy to seek treatment and not return to play without medical clearance. This type of thing is in coaches training, every year, from 6-year-olds suiting up for mite football to high school, college and professional players. There is no excuse for the coaches to ignore the signs and tell the kid to play. That's why they settled - they knew that they were responsible though negligence, not intent.

No, I don't think someone should be able to sue for this.

This young man CHOSE this. It's very sad that he was injured. However, he knew the possible risks....even as a minor, his parents allowed him to play the game...so really...the parents were most likely doing it to "help" their son get into a good college. Still knowing the risks. If the school provided the proper equipment - then that's not the school's fault and they shouldn't be made to pay...

No. I don't want my boys to play football. If they choose to, I will talk to them about the risks. They do play baseball - which has injuries as well. But if my kids get injured, it's not the league's fault. SH&T happens. The only thing that would make me sue is if the gear was faulty.

I have one son that is a perfect football build. He is very big for his age and is as solid as can be. My husband is a football fanatic- crazy obsessed with football. He is adamant that our one son eventually play (he is 5 now). As long as I am his mother, he will not be playing football. I completely agree- there is way too much of a risk for injury (especially head injury) for me to allow it. Lucky for me, he is our "artsy" child, so he is much more interested in the art class he is taking than any sports.
As for suing over injury- the only way I could see that being realistic is if there were conditions that were unsafe or that could potentially cause injury.