Legal Aspects of Concussion: The Ever-Evolving Standard of Care.

Today, when an athlete is catastrophically injured while playing a sport, litigation often follows. The likelihood of litigation is even greater in the event of a head injury, especially when the athlete can allege that a prior concussion somehow contributed to the current injury. Whether the potential defendants in these lawsuits, such as schools, coaches, athletic trainers, and other health care professionals, actually face legal liability depends on whether they are deemed to have conformed to the standard of care. The standard of care is a legal term, defined as acting as a reasonable professional in that position or industry would have under the circumstances based on then-existing knowledge. In this article, we examine the standard of care with regard to concussion management and treatment in the context of some of the most notable lawsuits in recent years.

Summary of the 2015 University of Michigan Sport Concussion Summit.

Discussions surrounding concussion have made their way into the public sphere over the previous decade with media attention and coverage of the injury fueling public debate. These conversations have devolved into discussions on banning contact and collision sports and raised legal questions surrounding injury management. Questions raised about concussion eclipse what science can answer, but the University of Michigan Injury Center (MI, USA) hosted a Concussion Summit in September 2015 as a means to condense, solidify and disseminate what is currently known on the topic. Areas for discussion included concussion incidence and prevention, diagnosis and management, legislation and education, legal and social aspects and future directions. A summary of those presentations are included within.