For many years, athletes from the smallest Pee-Wee football players to Super Bowl MVP’s were drilled with the mantra, “Walk it off!”
Now that the dangers of concussions are finally entering the public consciousness, that old piece of sports wisdom is changing, albeit slowly. Now, athletes are fighting back against the institutions they say left them out to dry after dangerous head injuries.
In Illinois, a former women’s college soccer player is suing her Alma mater, claiming that her career and health were ruined by negligent sports practices.
The woman alleges that her concussion was ignored when her team’s coaches ignored medical protocol. She filed the suit on Monday, June 8 in the Champaign County Circuit Court seeking medical damages of at least $50,000, although experts say if successful, her personal injury settlement could be much higher.
It’s the latest such suit in the ongoing saga of concussion injuries, which has received international coverage from the sports world. Normally, athletes would head back to the field or court as soon as they could stand, but now more players understand that repeated concussions could have life-altering consequences.
The latest suit by soccer player Casey Conine follows a concussion in October 2014 after banging into a goalkeeper. Conine alleges that her coaches missed obvious signs of a concussion and never even checked her condition, instead sending her right back into the game. And according to the University of Illinois’s own guidelines, players with head injuries must be evaluated by a doctor before playing again.
Conine has suffered from concussions in the past, and her October injury lead to blinding headaches that have left her unable to compete. She even had to drop out of school because the pain was too intense to focus on her coursework.
Sadly, it might take personal injury attorneys and large personal injury settlements for universities and sports leagues to wise up to the dangers of head injuries. Continue reading here.