A Trusted Brooklyn Personal Injury Lawyer: Brain Injuries on Athletes

For years, the National Football League has been criticized for not taking the appropriate action and ignoring the number of retired professional football players suffering from traumatic brain injuries. They also were vehemently disputing evidence that their players had a higher rate of severe brain damage until only recently, when they finally relented into providing payments of up to $5 million for every player suffering from brain injuries.

When playing rough sports like football, athletes always find themselves at risk of getting hurt or injured. Sustaining traumatic brain injuries can be grounds for a personal injury claim, which you can get compensation for with the help of a trusted Brooklyn personal injury lawyer.

Brain Injuries among Former Players

The Department of Veterans Affairs’ brain repository in Bedford, Massachusetts, had recently conducted a study regarding brain injuries among former football players. In their study, they found that 76 out of 79 former football players had chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a condition that can only be identified posthumously. CTE happens when repetitive traumas to the head, which football players are at risk of, makes the body produce abnormal proteins simply known as tau. These tau proteins entangle the brain’s blood vessels, gradually interrupting its normal functioning and eventually killing the nerve cells.

The study examined the brain tissues of over 128 late football players who played the game professionally, semi-professionally, or even in college or in high school. Among the 128 tissue samples, the researchers found that fewer than 80 percent, or over 101 players, had CTE. NFL legends like former Chicago Bears star Dave Duerson, Hall of Fame Pittsburgh Steelers center Mike Webster, and Junior Seau from the San Diego Chargers were some of the famous players who had this degenerative disease.

Settlement

Amidst the criticism faced by the NFL, they had revealed only recently that one in three of their retired players are at risk of developing long-term cognitive problems, and these conditions are likely to emerge at younger ages than most people. Last April, a federal district court gave the final approval for a settlement amounting to $5 million for each player suffering from brain injuries. This applied to former NFL players who retired on or before July 7, 2014, including players who died before the given date.

Playing football in general, regardless of the player’s age, already poses a risk of suffering traumatic brain injuries that can affect their lives in the future. You can seek compensation if a loved one sustained a brain injury with the help of a reliable personal injury lawyer in Brooklyn, like those from the Law Offices of Joseph Lichtenstein.

Sources:

76 of 79 Deceased NFL Players Found to Have Brain Disease, Frontline, September 30, 2014

Judge OKs NFL concussion lawsuit settlement, News4Jax, April 23, 2015