Duty to evaluate injuries as a coach

As a coach, you have 10 legal duties to the athletes that you coach, one of which is to evaluate for injury. Along with that goes evaluating athletes for suspected head injuries. With the current state of athletics being what it is, you cannot afford to make light of any contacts to the head. Failure to evaluate your athletes sets you, and your school, up for potential lawsuits.

In the state of New York, any suspected head injury needs to evaluated and cleared by a physician. This rule was developed in order to protect the athletes playing sports and to make the job of the coach easier; any athlete with any mechanism of potential head trauma with any symptoms of concussion are to be treated as concussed; they are to discontinue play, be monitored for signs of concussion and referred to a doctor for further evaluation, management and treatment.

Many of us have grown up playing sports in an era where we were told to walk it off, that it was just a ding and nothing further was done. That is no longer the case. You cannot afford to ignore insults to the head if you coach athletics. It is better to play it safe than risk the health of the athletes you coach and your career.

The article below serves as a reminder for all who coach and describes the potential consequences of not evaluating athletes who are hit in the head.

http://www.athleticbusiness.com/athlete-safety/concussion-protocol-failure-can-bring-negligence-claim.html?eid=277204494&bid=1499059