Is Your High School Or College Football Player At Risk?
Healthy high school and college students don't just die on the field while playing football—or do they? Students playing football are not only at risk of death from hidden health issues, like cardiac problems and aneurysms, but they're also dying from broken necks, internal injuries, head injuries, and heat stroke. If your student plays football, this is what you should know.
The school may put the game above your child's health.
Every year about a dozen kids die playing football, some during practices and some during games, and experts say many of these deaths are preventable. While there are more high schools players than there are college players, a college player is almost three times more likely to die than a high school player. Many more students face non-fatal injuries each year, as well.
While there were changes made in the past that helped lower the number of injuries and fatalities every year, the progress seems to have stalled since 1980, and experts believe that schools aren't putting enough policies in place to protect their athletes. While there are guidelines, many schools aren't following them, and coaches make decisions to send kids back into games when they should be sidelined.
There may not even be appropriate safety equipment on hand.
There are no uniform standards from state-to-state or even school-to-school when it comes to what safety equipment has to be on hand to protect student players. Many of the coaches at the high school level are volunteers who don't have the medical or athletic training they should have in order to properly evaluate when it is time to pull a player from the game. Student athletes, who don't want to miss out on valuable playing time, often don't report their injuries. As many as 70% of high school players with concussions continued to play, despite their injuries—while an appropriately trained athletic director should have been able to spot their condition and remove them from play.
In addition, may schools lack the most basic equipment that could prevent a number of player deaths: defibrillators to prevent cardiac deaths and ice water tubs to prevent heat stroke.
An attorney can help you evaluate your case.
If your student was injured or killed while on the playing field, talk to a personal injury attorney at a law firm like Randall A. Wolff & Associates, Ltd about the possibility of a case. While some deaths are tragically not preventable, many deaths and serious injuries come from someone's failure to follow basic safety procedures or inability to recognize danger signs. An attorney can help you determine if the school or coach was negligent and could have prevented your child's injury or death.
