Maryland Injury Attorney Blog
Maryland sports fans who follow the Baltimore Ravens know what to expect when they witness the spectacle that is professional football. It’s rough, it’s fast, and it’s exciting. But now safety advocates and the NFL are growing increasingly concerned about head injuries that can result when men the size of refrigerators hit each other head first.
A New England Patriots safety was fined $50,000 for a helmet-to-helmet collision on a Baltimore Ravens tight end during this past weekend’s match-up. This was not an isolated case: two other teams also received hefty fines for players who used their heads as battering rams in helmet-to-helmet hits on other players.
The NFL regards such hits as “dangerous and flagrant,” while some defensive players contend that’s just how the game is played. As the NFL promises to impose stricter sanctions to avoid helmet-hit head injuries, some players who say they’ll be hamstrung by such restrictions threaten to quit.
Common Causes of Head and Spine Injuries
Baltimore County, Maryland brain and spine injury lawyers are aware of how lives can be devastated or cut short when a head injury occurs — on or off the sports field. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) defines head injury as “…any trauma that leads to injury of the scalp, skull, or brain. The injuries can range from a minor bump on the skull to serious brain injury.” A concussion occurs when the brain is shaken.
The topic of sports concussions brings to light one way that head injuries can occur, though injury to the brain and spine can happen in many ways: as a result of construction accidents, pedestrian traffic accidents, and car and truck accidents.
Related Maryland Injury Attorney Blog Article on Brain Injury:
Maryland Brain Injury Association: March is Brain Injury Awareness Month
News Sources:
Brandon Meriweather Apologizes For Helmet-To-Helmet Hit
The Baltimore Sun Oct. 20, 2010
NFL fines but doesn’t suspend 3 players for dangerous hits, wants to give fair warning
Associated Press in The Baltimore Sun Oct. 19, 2010
James Harrison threatens to retire because of dirty hit sanction
Yahoo! Sports Oct. 20, 2010
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