The number of class-action lawsuits pertaining to concussions filed against the NCAA is now at five. Attorneys for former Kansas fullback Christopher Powell filed the most recent suit in U.S. District Court in Western Missouri on November 18 alleging that the NCAA failed in its duty to protect its athletes from the concussion/head trauma hazards of football and are seeking damages for the chronic physical ailments Powell is suffering almost two decades after he finished his collegiate career. The lawsuit claims that Powell, who played from 1990-94, suffered four documented concussions during his collegiate career, including one significant one that resulted in memory loss. Powell’s lawsuit defines the potential class as former NCAA football players who suffered concussions or concussion-like symptoms during their careers, who did not play in the NFL and who have developed a host of physical ailments stemming from concussions such as headaches or dementia. Representative Charlie Dent (R-Pa) recently sponsored the National Collegiate Athletics Accountability Act which would require baseline concussion testing for collegiate athletes in contact sports and require schools to provide athletic scholarships up to four years despite any injury. Current NCAA rules do not require such testing. Legislation passed in 2010 requires schools to have a concussion management plan in place.
But no such plan was in place during Powell’s playing days. Powell said he continues to suffer neurologic and cognitive deficits that require medical monitoring and cause him to incur out-of-pocket expenses. Powell blames the NCAA for failing to implement system-wide “return to play” guidelines for post-concussion treatment and for failing to solidify appropriate tackling techniques that would have minimized the risk of head trauma (interestingly, the University of Kansas is not a defendant). It also faults the NCAA for providing no post-collegiate financial assistance or medical treatment to former players who deal with the long-lasting consequences of head trauma. “They have failed to establish known protocols to prevent, mitigate, monitor, diagnose and treat brain injuries,” Powell alleges.
As knowledge of the adverse consequences of head impacts in football has grown, the NCAA has never gone back to college football players to offer education or needed medical monitoring.
As the concussion lawsuits in sports have risen, pro leagues such as NFL and the NHL have implemented heightened standards to ensure player safety. The NCAA has followed suit to raise awareness on how to treat possible head injuries as well, but the lack of any such concussion protocol until recently is clearly the source of the rise of these class-action lawsuits.