If an athlete suffers a concussion but her coach encourages her to keep playing, can the coach and school be held liable for subsequent injuries? A federal court could soon examine that question.
Tracy Yatsko was a junior on the varsity girls' basketball team at Tamaqua (Pa.) High School in 2005 when she says she suffered a concussion during a game. In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in December, she alleges that two days after experiencing the concussion, Head Coach Joseph Berezwick and Assistant Coach Andrea Edmonds told her to play in a game despite her complaints of nausea and other concussion-related symptoms.
The suit says Yatsko complained of painful headaches to Edmonds after a Jan. 10 game, but that the assistant coach didn't take her to see the school's athletic trainer. Yatsko played in another game on Jan. 12, collapsed in the locker room afterward, and was eventually taken to a hospital. Yatsko claims that as a result of playing immediately after suffering the concussion, she now has permanent disabilities--blurred vision, loss of balance, headaches, and depression--that have caused her to drop out of college, lose future job earnings, and will result in future medical bills.
Whether or not coaches failed to protect Yatsko remains to be seen. However, the situation underscores the importance of athletic programs having concussion assessment protocols and return-to-play guidelines in place. "Don't let somebody play who has symptoms--when in doubt, sit them out," says Dr. Mark Lovell, Director of the Sports Concussion Program at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. "And we definitely believe in gradually returning athletes to play as they go through a systematic increase in their activity level."
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