A new brain injury lawsuit could be the undoing of college football as we know it

[gardenjam]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/qz.com...is-tied-up-in-a-new-brain-injury-lawsuit/amp/

The plaintiff in this case, Debra Hardin-Ploetz, is the widow of Greg Ploetz, a linebacker and defensive tackle for the University of Texas from 1968 to 1972. He never played professionally, but in 2015, after he died, neurologists from Boston University who examined his brain concluded that he had the most severe form of CTE, and that the disease is what....

 

[GoBlueDavid]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/qz.com...is-tied-up-in-a-new-brain-injury-lawsuit/amp/

The plaintiff in this case, Debra Hardin-Ploetz, is the widow of Greg Ploetz, a linebacker and defensive tackle for the University of Texas from 1968 to 1972. He never played professionally, but in 2015, after he died, neurologists from Boston University who examined his brain concluded that he had the most severe form of CTE, and that the disease is what....

Yes, it very well might be the first huge "CTE" financial blow that will cause the end of the game. The lawsuits that will be forthcoming...nothing can stop them... ..could very well be fatal body shots to the game of American Football.

 

[CrabHusker]

Lawsuits and their resultant effect will continue to change the rules, equipment, need for 'hold harmless' agreements between players/families and colleges and professional teams, but I don't see it completely going away for a very long time.

 

[BigRedAvenger]

I would think this would be a long shot for the plaintiff. The article says that NCAA officials will have to testify in front of a jury what they knew about brain injuries; but this occurred over 40 years ago. No one knew about CTE back then, They were closer on the timeline to leather helmets than the helmets of today. They knew head injuries were bad, and football had evolved in an attempt to compensate using the information and technology available at that time.

They refer to a delay in making mouth guards mandatory, but wouldn’t that have to tie into the prevention of CTE somehow? I don’t think stating that the NCAA didn’t take player safety seriously because they didn’t implement a device that would not have prevented something they didn’t even know existed is a strong argument.

But then again, I’m no lawyer.

 

[GoBlueDavid]

Lawsuits and their resultant effect will continue to change the rules, equipment, need for 'hold harmless' agreements between players/families and colleges and professional teams, but I don't see it completely going away for a very long time.

CTE is now a scientifically provable result of American Football and with the huge money that the NFL generates, the lawsuits will come hard.....the great NFL whale has been bloodied.....the sharks are circling and will tear the financial underbelly of the NFL apart.

The ongoing financial blows that 'will happen' will be incredible in scope.... and the repercussions of the windfalls will cause pee wee/youth/school football programs to have to indemnify against harm. The insurance "hold harmless" will simply be to great to maintain...and the game will die (as we know it) at the entry level.

The game can't outrun the coming tsunami of negative CTE research and lawsuits....

I LOVE the game....but it's days as we know it...are absolutely numbered.

 

[Huskerthom]

I would think this would be a long shot for the plaintiff. The article says that NCAA officials will have to testify in front of a jury what they knew about brain injuries; but this occurred over 40 years ago. No one knew about CTE back then, They were closer on the timeline to leather helmets than the helmets of today. They knew head injuries were bad, and football had evolved in an attempt to compensate using the information and technology available at that time.

They refer to a delay in making mouth guards mandatory, but wouldn’t that have to tie into the prevention of CTE somehow? I don’t think stating that the NCAA didn’t take player safety seriously because they didn’t implement a device that would not have prevented something they didn’t even know existed is a strong argument.

But then again, I’m no lawyer.

I agree. The time frame alone makes it a losing case. Was he ever in car accidents after playing? Did he ever get into a bar fight. Was he able to maintain a job for any amount of time?

A lawyer once explained to me that it is not enough that a manager did something illegal. You have to prove that there was financial harm as a result. This sounds like the worst case for a law suit.

 

[MadRat]

Tort is finicky. You can have an open and shut case with all the facts. Then one fact out of left field blurs the lines.

 

[Goal-line]

Tort is finicky. You can have an open and shut case with all the facts. Then one fact out of left field blurs the lines.

I don’t think there are any “left field facts” that blur the lines when it comes to football related head injuries. Modern medical technology is rock solid as to the CTE issue.

I have said for a long time that because of the size, speed and athletic ability of modern day players that the evolution of the game will inevitably have to change. Evidence is on firm ground regarding contact induced head injuries. As another poster stated, entry level leagues such as small fry, middle school, and high school football may well find themselves getting priced out of existence because of the financial impact of insurance.

I don’t know the answer, but necessary changes are coming on the immediate horizon.

 

[NJHuskerFan]

We might as well cancel the season now. The sky is falling! The sky is falling, I tell ya!

 

[GoBlueDavid]

We might as well cancel the season now. The sky is falling! The sky is falling, I tell ya!

It is said that "facts are stubborn things"

To be sure....CTE FACTS are 'fatal things'....

And they are coming to a football game near you....(can't stop it from happening)

As night follows day.... Lawyers follow the money....

CTE is a medical fact and the scientific research and case files of the fatal damage is growing everyday.....

CTE is THE huge cash cow for personal injury law.... and it's "just starting" to pay off.

Over the next few years...perhaps 15 at the most.... the game as we know it will no longer exist.

 

[joncarl]

Don't smoke, it can kill you, don't play football it can kill you, don't box it can kill you, don't ride a motorcycle it can kill you, don't do drugs it can kill you. As a matter of fact don't get out of bed it can kill you.

There we should be covered. They maybe didn't know it back then but anyone in the last 10-15 years that did any of the above should never be allowed to sue because they knew that whatever it was they were doing could potential harm them.

Oversimplified but that is how I feel.

 

[GoBlueDavid]

Don't smoke, it can kill you, don't play football it can kill you, don't box it can kill you, don't ride a motorcycle it can kill you, don't do drugs it can kill you. As a matter of fact don't get out of bed it can kill you.

There we should be covered. They maybe didn't know it back then but anyone in the last 10-15 years that did any of the above should never be allowed to sue because they knew that whatever it was they were doing could potential harm them.

Oversimplified but that is how I feel.

Joncarl....are you going to give your 6 year old son a pack of cigarettes to smoke....or a syringe with heroin to shoot? The analogy is false. It is becoming clear that to put your child into a full contact football program, is to expose them to injurious brain damage. The longer they play.....the more the brain is damaged.....

Facts are stubborn things...

We can chose to 'ignore' them.....ok.

But the fact are not going away..... the lawyers are not going away....the CTE researcher is not going away.... the growing groundswell of parents declining to put their child in football will only increase.... and the coming massive insurance costs to organize and facilitate a youth/school football league are not going away.

Do I hope this happens? Of course not....but its going to. (and for the sake of the CTE facts)...it has to. So, 'change the game...or end the game' will soon become the reality of the day...

JMO.

 

[NU_Alum]

Get rid of the helmets and hard shoulder pads. You'll see concussions go down instantly.

 

[Huskerthom]

Joncarl....are you going to give your 6 year old son a pack of cigarettes to smoke....or a syringe with heroin to shoot? The analogy is false. It is becoming clear that to put your child into a full contact football program, is to expose them to injurious brain damage. The longer they play.....the more the brain is damaged.....

Facts are stubborn things...

We can chose to 'ignore' them.....ok.

But the fact are not going away..... the lawyers are not going away....the CTE researcher is not going away.... the growing groundswell of parents declining to put their child in football will only increase.... and the coming massive insurance costs to organize and facilitate a youth/school football league are not going away.

Do I hope this happens? Of course not....but its going to. (and for the sake of the CTE facts)...it has to. So, 'change the game...or end the game' will soon become the reality of the day...

JMO.

Funny, I heard the same thing about boxing 20 years ago. It still exists at all age levels. Even more so a more violent combat sport has arisen.MMA. Almost every sport has the danger of STE including soccer with the headers.

There will be changes and there already are. Limiting contact in practices is already happening. When is the last time you saw an ear hole block. There will be a number of changes like that. The ferver from this will die down just like it did for boxing.

 

[GoBlueDavid]

Funny, I heard the same thing about boxing 20 years ago. It still exists at all age levels. Even more so a more violent combat sport has arisen.MMA. Almost every sport has the danger of STE including soccer with the headers.

There will be changes and there already are. Limiting contact in practices is already happening. When is the last time you saw an ear hole block. There will be a number of changes like that. The ferver from this will die down just like it did for boxing.

What you did not have 20 years ago was the 'hard research' the has come forth about CTE.... and with this will come the lawyers....making their case's in court....

BIG difference.