The NFL has known that players who suffered repeated concussions were prone to experience symptoms of post-traumatic brain injury including headaches, dizziness and memory reduction, the group said in a complaint filed Aug. 17 in Philadelphia government court. The league failed to develop appropriate ways to identify players have been at risk, said the players, who are demanding medical monitoring.
Since the actual 1970s, the league has “turned a blind eye” to players being trained to tackle, butt and injure opposing players because of an “interest to keep its fan base excited and interested in the violence of this activity, ” according to the complaint.
“We have not seen the complaint but would vigorously contest any claims of the kind, ” Greg Aiello, a spokesman for the New York-based NFL, said yesterday within an e-mail.
The group is seeking to represent all former NFL players who sustained concussions or suffered symptoms whilst in the league and who have developed chronic headaches, dizziness or dementia since heading off. They’re also seeking to cover current players who have suffered head accidental injuries and who haven’t been properly monitored or evaluated.
Falcons, Eagles
In add-on to McMahon, the group includes former Atlanta Falcons players Charles Ray Easterling as well as Wayne Radloff, former Philadelphia Eagles player Gerald Feehery, former Cleveland Browns participant Joseph E. Thomas and Michael Thomas Furrey, who played for the Washington Redskins until this year. The group also includes former Dallas Cowboy Steve Kiner.
A similar lawsuit was filed from the NFL last month by 75 former players in California state court in La, alleging the league knew as early as the 1920s that concussions had been harmful, according to the Associated Press.
The NFL has pledged $1 million to Boston University’s Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy to research preventing and treat brain injuries. In February, the league imposed a protocol on team doctors and trainers to assess players who've sustained concussions during games.
Guidelines on Concussions
The league, which began giving guidelines on concussions in 2007, has paid out $13 million to 151 former players with the NFL’s “88 Plan, ” which grants players with brain disease as a lot as $88, 000 a year. Players who are medically diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, dementia, or ALS would be eligible for a the benefit “without respect to cause, ” Aiello said in an e-mail.
Lawyers for that group said the 88 plan and a neuro- cognitive disability benefit plan introduced this season in a new collective bargaining agreement are inadequate as they put limits about the types of payments, the ages of the players and the annual allocation. Medical monitoring, including genetic testing, is needed, the attorneys said in the statement.
“Establishing a systematic protocol to monitor NFL players and identify players in danger is vital so that current and future players can avoid the long-term debilitating problems their predecessors happen to be living with everyday, ” the lawyers said.