Litigation

Who is going to care for all of these kids with traumatic brain injuries?

By Michael Kaplen

A troubling study was published in the journal Pediatrics reviewing emergency department visits and concussions in child athletes.

The study raises important public health questions regarding the availability of treatment and medical insurance coverage for these children who may face a tragic permanent consequences.

According to the study, the number of child athletes taken to emergency rooms with sports-related concussions doubled over a recent 10-year-period.

Among youths aged 14 to 19, meanwhile, emergency room visits for concussions sustained during team sports more than tripled over the same period.

Over all, children aged 8 to 19 had more than half a million emergency room visits for concussion from 2001 through 2005, according to the study.

About half of all the emergency department visits for concussion were sports-related, the study found, and the younger children sustained 40 percent of them, representing more than half the concussions among this age group.

What we know from prior studies is that while most individuals will recover from a concussion, we do know that between 15 to 20 percent of individuals have long term and permanent consequences of a concussion with symptoms lasting over one year and in many, over an entire life time.

We also know that children who sustain a concussion are more susceptible to sustaining a further concussion and that the risk of permanent consequences increases with each subsequent concussion.

So, the issue remains, how do we address the long term needs of children once they sustain a traumatic brain injury?  This is the issue that continues to be ignored and must be addressed. 

Full post as published by Brain Injury News and Information on September 01, 2010 (boomark / email).