In April 2016, a panel of American judges affirmed a class action settlement worth approximately $1-billion between the National Football League (NFL) and more than 20,000 former NFL players who had suffered a brain injury – especially concussions – or other health issues related to repeated blows to the head.
Approximately a month earlier, NFL VP of health and safety Jeff Miller “acknowledged for the first time that football has been linked to degenerative brain disease” during a Capitol Hill discussion, according to NPR. The admittance came in response to research conducted by Dr. Ann McKee, a neuropathologist at Boston University, which found that 90 out of 94 former professional football players and 45 out of 55 former college players showed signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
“Well certainly Dr. McKee’s research shows that a number of retired NFL players were diagnosed with CTE, so the answer to that question is certainly yes,” McKee said. “But there’s also a number of questions that come with that.”
Canadians have a tendency to think of themselves as more progressive than their American cousins, but on the issue of concussion and brain injury legislation, the Northern neighbours lag behind. The US-based National Hockey League (NHL) and National Basketball Association (NBA) have both instituted concussion-safety protocols, and all 50 states ‘have laws dictating the management of youth concussions,’ according to the National Post.
But lawmakers in Ontario took an important step towards protecting student-athletes against the dangers of brain injury when they passed “Rowan’s Law” earlier this month. The legislation is named for Rowan Stringer, a 17-year-old high school rugby player from Ottawa who passed away on Mother’s Day 2013 after suffering successive concussions within a week.
Per the National Post, the passing of Rowan’s Law “mandates the creation of a committee to determine how best to act on the 49 recommendations laid out by the coroner’s inquest” into Rowan’s death, meaning that fully formed concussion regulations are a long way off.
“It will still be a matter of the legislature process deciding what to do,” explained Dr. Charles Tator, a neurosurgeon at Toronto Western Hospital, in the Post article. “This is not the actual thing. A lot of people think that it is, but it is an important step to try to achieve legislation – which I think should be done.”
Formal concussion management strategies have proved as important as helmet use in preventing brain damage, and studies have suggested that official protocols have increased the likelihood of concussions being effectively identified. In Rowan Stringer’s case, a formal concussion strategy might have detected her first injury and helped her to avoid the second, fatal one.
“We need to have everything we can in place to prevent this from happening to another child,” said Rowan’s father, Gordon Stringer. “We don’t want anyone else to have to go through it.”
To effectively accomplish Mr. Stringer’s goal, legislation similar to Rowan’s Law would have to be implemented across the country. Today, Ontario is the only Canadian province to have taken concrete steps toward brain injury legislation.
“We have known for a long time about effective ways of preventing concussions and preventing them from getting worse,” Dr. Tator said. “So the knowledge is there, but the knowledge has not been translated into action. And in spite of lots of good intentions, there are still serious gaps in what people know about concussion and what is being done.”
Concussions are an incredibly common form of brain injury in Canada, especially among young, active people. If you or a member of your family has suffered a concussion in an accident, consider contacting Neinstein Personal Injury Lawyers to learn about how a personal injury case can improve your recovery.
Greg Neinstein
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