Brain injuries are a common phenomenon in sports today. Turn on ESPN’s Sports Center and there are regular sports stories from football, soccer, baseball, ice hockey, and even WWE about brain injuries caused during a game or match.
Concussion Problem in Sports
In February, CNN reported on the concussion problem facing professional athletes around the world. Head injuries can end careers abruptly, and in some cases, athletes may take their own lives due to the effects of brain injuries over their lifetimes. Legendary NFL linebacker, Junior Seau, committed suicide in 2013. Doctors found chronic brain damage in Seau and other former football players that was caused by a lifetime of head collisions.
Concussion Effects on Family
Some athletes take their own lives due to the depression that develops after a brain injury. In the case of WWE performer Chris Benoit, he took the lives of his wife and son before killing himself in 2007.
Following the investigation into the Benoit double-murder suicide case, ABC News revealed: “[Doctors] found that Benoit’s brain showed an advanced form of dementia that appears on the brain scan as brown clumps or tangles. These brown spots are actually dead brain cells, killed off as a result of head trauma.”
Benoit’s case was extreme, but with the right diagnosis from the sports or entertainment group that oversaw his work, he could have been treated years prior.
Identifying Brain Injury
Unfortunately, brain injury can be a silent killer. Injuries can often be masked, and they do not appear until later in life. Yet, brain trauma adds up. It is not just sports that can cause brain injury. Workers can be hit on the head on the job and an unsafe work area can be rife with potential dangers. Clinics and hospitals can identify brain injury following a sports competition, and the Mayo Clinic offers tips to judge the impact of the injury.
What Happens After a Brain Injury?
After an athlete suffers a brain injury, it can become financially exhausting to seek medical help. In some cases, not all sufferers truly recover. Instead, the injuries pile up over time.
For children playing sports, this can cause problems throughout life. Whatever the sport, constant head collisions can mount as they grow older and culminate in early onset dementia.
Effect on Children
In 2010, there were a reported 50,000 concussions in high school soccer in the United States alone. That staggering figure caused a major lawsuit against US Soccer, the governing body of the sport in America. Thanks to the lawsuit, the rules allowing children under age 10 to use their heads to hit the ball have been completely changed. The practice is now outlawed. The rules for 11 to 13-year-olds have been modified, as well, with only limited heading allowed.
Due to lawsuits on catastrophic brain injury following scientific analysis, sports are finally coming into the modern age. Unfortunately, not all athletes and ex-professionals that suffer brain damage are receiving the financial restitution. Currently, some US states are seeking to limit the worker compensation paid to professional athletes based on injury.
The NFL is beginning a payout of $1 billion to former players over head injuries and it looks like the NHL could go to court over a similar head injury case this year. If you have suffered brain damage due to athletic competition, you may be able to receive compensation for your medical treatments.
Strassburg, Gilmore and Wei Can Help
The law firm of Strassburg, Gilmore and Wei can provide you with legal guidance when it comes to catastrophic injury and severe brain injury lawsuits. Located in Pasadena, California, Strassburg, Gilmore and Wei, Attorneys at Law, is available to give you insight on difficult matters. Visit our webpage to see how we can help you. If you have any questions, contact us and let our experienced attorneys in catastrophic injury and severe brain injury, go to work for you.