Personal Injury Law

Montclair High School Student's Death Leads to Stricter Policies

By Bruce Stern

The dangers of athletes returning to competition too soon after suffering from a sports-related concussion has been recognized for some time now.  In fact, just a few years ago, the Brain Injury Association of New Jersey invited trainers and coaches from New Jersey high school athletic departments to attend a sports concussion seminar at Giant’s Stadium in the Meadowlands. 
 
This morning I read in the New York Times that Montclair High School planned to meet this week to develop a written policy for dealing with students who sustained concussions.  This announcement came days after a Montclair High School student athlete, Ryne Dougherty, died of a brain hemorrhage. That injury came less than a month after Ryne sustained a prior concussion during a school practice on September 18, 2008. 
 
The article quotes Montclair High School’s Interim Principal Judith Weiss who indicated that she overhead at least one teammate “lamenting that he had not told school officials that Dougherty was complaining of post-concussion symptoms after he had been cleared.”
 
The failure of Ryne or his teammates to complain is not surprising. Over and over again, experts in the field warn that athletes will not bring their complaints to the attention of coaches as a result of the culture that surround these sports.
 
While it is wonderful that Montclair will now begin to develop the necessary policies regarding athletes who sustain concussions, it is shameful that this program was not in place before this tragic event occurred.  It is imperative that schools begin to educate coaches, athletic trainers and their athletes concerning the dangers that concussions pose.

Full post as published by Traumatic Brain Injury Law Blog on October 23, 2008 (boomark / email).