NFL and NCAA Under Increased Pressure to Manage the Long-Term Effects of Concussions
In August, 2013, the NFL announced that it had reached a $765 million dollar settlement of claims by more than 4,500 players alleging that they were suffering from long-term consequences of concussions that the NFL had known about for years, hid from players, and failed to minimize by establishing appropriate protocols for return to play. The alleged cover-up by the NFL, with co-conspirators in the medical community, was recently the subject of an extensively researched PBS Frontline special titled “League of Denial.”
By settling the players’ claims early in the litigation it appeared that the league would avoid further examination of what the league knew and when it knew about the long-term effects of concussion. However, several recent developments indicate that these issues will likely be examined further. The judge overseeing the litigation has appointed a “special master” to make recommendations concerning the settlement and the Brain Injury Association of America has petitioned to intervene in the litigation to make sure that the settlement takes proper account of the
“progressive physical, psychiatric and cognitive disease processes that are caused and/or accelerated by brain injury, but may not manifest in clinically significant symptoms on initial presentation.”