Major League Baseball joins NFL, NHL in cracking down on concussions

Concussions, brain injuries and their long-term consequences have been big issues for professional sports lately. Under increasing pressure from doctors, retired players and team members, organizations like the National Football League (NFL) have created new rules for how players are evaluated and treated for concussions.

These organizations are just beginning to understand the long-term impact that repeated concussions can have on professional players. There have been high-profile cases of retired players struggling to live with the after-effects of concussions they sustained on the field during their prime. After retirement, players are finding that they suffer from an unusually high rate of memory, cognitive and other problems related to repeated concussions.

Now the Major League Baseball (MLB) association is joining the NFL in issuing new rules about concussions. The National Hockey League (NHL) has also been working to reduce the number of concussions experienced by players on the field.

Changes by MLB include:

• Establishing a seven day disabled list specifically for concussions.
• Establishing mandatory baseline testing for all players and umpires
• New steps that must be used to evaluate players suspected of suffering a concussion.
• Requiring each team to designate a specialist who deals with minor brain injuries. This specialist would have to evaluate players and umpires as needed.
• Evaluations of players and umpires would have to be sent to MLB's own medical director for review before they are cleared to play again.

MLB hopes these changes will prevent injured players from being rushed back into play, which is the worst thing to do when suffering from a brain injury.

Need to talk to a lawyer about a brain injury / concussion accident? Please contact our Houston office today.