THE NFL'S NEW POLICY

Yesterday the NFL announced a new policy on player concussion injuries.

This comes after mounting evidence that there may be links between concussions and dementia in former players. It’s an issue I blogged about
earlier this fall:
http://www.workerscompzone.com/index.ph … 929-222652

Many of these NFL players will wind up in California’s workers’ comp system.

Here is the NFL’s statement announcing stronger concussion guidelines:
http://blogs.nfl.com/2009/12/02/league- … uidelines/

However, it appears that many NFL players often hide head injuries. This year the Associated Press interviewed approximately 10% of current NFL players. 30 of 160 players interviewed admitted that they had “Hidden or played down the effects of a concussion”.

Here’s the article by Howard Fendrich:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c … 1AMR9V.DTL

But with all the increased focus on the concussion issue, will players be more willing to admit to concussion problems? That’s the thesis of an article by AP sportswriter Rachel Cohen in an article carried in the San Francisco Chronicle:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c … 256S04.DTL

How all this is handled will be very important to the future of football.
If the NFL can’t regulate itself and these concerns escalate, we’ll see calls for more public regulation.

Stay tuned.

Julius Young
www.boxerlaw.com

Category: Political developments