Detroit Sports Brain Injury Attorneys

In contact and non-contact sports, professional and amateur athletes run the risk of injury. Even with protective gear, sports injuries can have numerous short and long-term effects. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) pose a “serious health concern.” In 2020, over 64,000 TBI-related deaths occurred in the United States, with about 176 deaths daily.

Michigan was the 39th state to enact legislation regulating sports concussions and return to sports. The law, which went into effect in 2013, was amended in 2017. If your child has suffered a concussion or other sports-related brain injury in Detroit or the surrounding areas, contact the brain injury attorneys at Sommers Schwartz today.

What Is a Traumatic Brain Injury?

A traumatic brain injury or TBI is a blow or jolt to the head or a skull that disrupts normal brain function. Depending on how much damage the brain sustains, a TBI can dramatically impact a person’s mental state or consciousness.

TBIs frequently go unnoticed at first. Symptoms may appear immediately, within a couple of hours, or could manifest in a few days or weeks. A mild injury may cause a minor headache, but a serious TBI can cause a coma or even death in the most devastating cases.

Traumatic brain injury symptoms include:

• Slurred speech.
• Vomiting.
• Weakness or numbness in the hands and feet.
• Memory problems.
• Problems with balance and walking.
• Visual disturbances.
• Persistent headache.

Traumatic Brain Injuries in Athletes

While anyone can sustain a TBI, athletes are at greater risk, and participation in close-contact sports like football or hockey further increases the risk. Nearly 400,000 sports-related TBIs occur each year in the United States, according to the American Academy of Neurosurgeons (AANS).

The AANS identifies four criteria for sports-related concussions and traumatic brain injuries:

• These concussions may result from a direct head, face, or neck blow. They may also result from impact to another body part that transmits force to the head area, such as a tackle that causes whiplash-like injuries.
• Sports-related concussions often produce neurological symptoms almost immediately. Athletes who complain of “getting their bell rung” often describe these symptoms. These short-lived symptoms may resolve quickly, or they may linger. Athletes sometimes don’t immediately notice the injury but experience symptoms developing over the following days and weeks.
• Sports-related concussions don’t always cause changes that show up in imaging studies.
• Sports-related concussions may or may not include loss of consciousness.

Because symptoms may develop over days or weeks, athletes must be cautious if any brain injury is suspected.

Types of Common Injuries From Popular Sports

A traumatic brain injury is a broad term for any injury that interferes with the function of the brain due to an impact on the head. TBIs that may occur during sports or recreational activities include:

• Concussions.
• Hematomas.
• Hemorrhages.
• Skull fractures.
• Contusions.

Symptoms may range from subtle changes in mood to loss of consciousness, bleeding, and other clear signs of severe injury.

The sports and recreational activities that contribute to the highest number of head injuries in the United States include:

• Cycling.
• Football.
• Baseball.
• Basketball.
• Water sports.
• Soccer.

Many athletes, trainers, and even physicians once assumed that an athlete could not have a concussion unless they lost consciousness. Today, research demonstrates that traumatic brain injuries can occur even without loss of consciousness.

Research also indicates that TBIs can have lingering effects. While many symptoms resolve in a few weeks, others may remain for months or longer. TBIs correlate with an increased risk of long-term brain conditions, including early-onset Alzheimer’s disease and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

Experiencing one traumatic brain injury also increases the risk of future TBIs, especially when the first TBI is healing.

Symptoms of Traumatic Brain Injury in Children

Professional athletes are not the only demographic susceptible to TBIs. Children and teens participating in sports and other close-contact activities are also at risk.

Children and teens are more likely to suffer a sport- or recreation-related TBI than adults who participate in similar activities. In fact, about 21 percent of all traumatic brain injuries in these age groups come from sports or play.

The symptoms of TBIs in kids may appear differently than in adults. Often, they may be unable to communicate or understand what they feel. In addition to any symptoms present in adults, symptoms of TBIs in children include:

• Loss of appetite.
• Loss of balance or unsteady walking.
• Irritability and crying.
• Changes in personality or behavior.

Legal Liability for Brain Injuries Sustained from Athletic Activities

With millions of sports-related traumatic brain injuries occurring yearly, states have enacted laws to help minimize or prevent injuries. For example, Michigan has implemented laws and regulations that require all adults involved in youth athletic programs to take concussion awareness programs, and all youth athletic programs in the state must provide educational materials to youth athletes.

The Michigan High School Athletics Association (MHSAA) has also released a protocol for implementing the National Federation of State High School Associations’ sports rules for concussions. The MHSAA is the governing body of high school sports in Michigan, and school athletic programs must follow its rules.

MHSAA protocols for a suspected concussion occurring during high school athletic events include:

• Making officials responsible for noticing if a player may be injured and connecting the player to healthcare professionals. Officials are not required to identify concussions specifically; their primary job is to ensure a school’s designated healthcare professional is aware of a potential injury.
• A school’s designated healthcare professional must evaluate a potentially injured student. If the healthcare professional determines the student doesn’t have a concussion, the student may return to play according to the sport’s rules.
• If a concussion is suspected, the student may not return to play and must see a doctor or licensed healthcare professional authorized to diagnose concussions. That provider must clear the student to return to the activity.

Schools must also report concussion incidents to the MHSAA for tracking purposes. If a school has no concussion events during the three sports seasons, it must report its zero total to MHSAA at the end of that season.

At some events, MHSAA provides a tournament physician. If the tournament physician determines that a student-athlete may not return to the activity – due to a concussion or any other reason – the tournament physician cannot get overruled.

If a student is barred from participation but participates in any meet or contest, their team automatically forfeits the match. Repeated violations may make the entire school ineligible to compete in that sport for some time.

Brain Injuries and Assumption of Risk

You may have heard the term “assumption of risk.” The general rule in sports is that the athlete assumes the risk of injury by participating. If you or someone you love suffers a sports-related brain injury, the coach, team, school, or league may argue that the injured party assumed the risk of getting hurt. They may attempt to avoid legal responsibility by claiming that:

• The injured party voluntarily participated in the sport.
• The injury from playing the sport was foreseeable.
• The injured party knew or should have known the dangers involved in the sport.

While the assumption of risk may be a defense against adult athletes, Michigan law is much more stringent in protecting youth athletes. Michigan places a duty on coaches to bench or remove youth players with suspected head injuries sustained during a game. Moreover, coaches must keep injured players out of current and future games until a medical professional clears the player.

Coaches, schools, and organizers may be liable for the following:

• Violating Michigan statutes.
• Failing to provide immediate medical attention to the athlete.
• Subjecting an injured player to the continuing danger of additional TBIs.

Types of Compensation for Traumatic Brain Injuries

When another person’s negligence results in a brain injury, athletes and their families may choose to file a lawsuit for compensation.

A brain injury can have long-term effects that necessitate medical care, therapy, and rehabilitation. The injury may also limit one’s ability to earn a living. A lawsuit can help an injured athlete obtain money for:

• Medical bills.
• Continuing medical treatment.
• Lost wages and future earning capacity.
• Pain and suffering.

Contact Our Michigan Sports Brain Injury Attorneys Today

Brain injuries dramatically impact individuals and their families. Choosing the right law firm to handle a TBI lawsuit may be your most critical decision. For more than four decades, the attorneys at the Michigan-based law firm of Sommers Schwartz have fought for injured people and their families and have won hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation.

Contact Sommers Schwartz to learn how we can help you pursue a claim for a sports-related brain injury sustained by you or your child. Call us today at (800) 783-0989 to schedule a free consultation – the phone call is free, and there is no fee unless we win.