Landau Injury Law

With back to school comes varsity sports and all the late night practices, close friendships, and sadly injuries.  Concussions occur too often each year and are a potentially dangerous injury.  Concussions occur when a person is stuck on the head and the brain on the opposite side bruises from the impact with the skull. While concussions are rarely a devastating injury after one occurrence, multiple occurrences of this injury can have an accumulative adverse affect.  This is why on July 1, 2011 Virginia passed a law where any student which sustains a concussion is benched until they receive medical clearance from a medical professional or athletic trainer. For more details check out the Student-Athlete Protection Act which focuses on minimizing further damage from a concussion which could effect them later in life.

Fortunately, the community has also identified how devastating concussions can be are are spreading awareness and implementing precautions.  For example, some schools are utilizing a computer program which can identify concussions faster and more accurately.  In addition, Dick’s Sport Goods has created PACE (Protecting Athletes through Concussion Education) a program designed to spread information about concussions with the support of famous athletes like Doug Flutie and Jerome Bettis. The AAN (American Academy of Neurology) has put together a website toolkit for parents and students to prevent and recognize concussions. While concussion are a serious matter it is good to know that both the legal and local communities are taking strong steps to keep student sports fun but also safe.

As the medical profession continues to learn more about the adverse long term effect of concussions, it is important to be safe instead of sorry.  If you or your child has sustained a head trauma please  get it examined by a medical professional. If you think you need legal advice concerning a concussion or other wrongfully acquired injury please contact us at the Herndon Law Shop at 703-796-9555 or email us.