John Barnes pushing to sue AFL over concussion

[efc1robbo]

I shudder to think what Joel Selwoods brain will be make in 15 years, even if a lot of it has been self inflicted

[frosty]

FK that is horrible. And truly scary.

[Dunnybrush]

The AFL have been trying to mitigate against concussions for a long time now with rule changes to protect the head, not hard to see why. The bump was such a feature of footy up until recently, but it’s an unfortunate reality that it needs to be phased out. There will always be incidental head contact, but with what is now known about CTE it’s hard to justify intentional ‘charging’.

[mdso]

I think there’s probably a lot of footballers by the time they finish their careers, are likely to have some sort of ABI. The possibility of hits to the head, the AFL must come down heavy on anyone no matter who it is, accident or not, with a minimum of six weeks. No player wants to be missing from the game for that long and it will place duty of care with the players.

[soundman]

The possibility of hits to the head, the AFL must come down heavy on anyone no matter who it is, accident or not, with a minimum of six weeks.

And in instances where the ball carrier contributes to the high contact, eg leads with the head, or ducks into a tackle, or raises the shoulder+collapses at the knees+throws the head back etc, give both players 3 weeks each.

[theDJR]

I can’t possibly see how either of those two hard rules could become a farce…

[Fella]

From my limited knowledge it’s not necessarily the direct and obvious head knocks that cause CTE, it’s the repeated small impacts, regardless of head contact or not, that are said to cause CTE. Hence the article pointing out that soccer players have been found to have CTE.

[soundman]

Which is why the AFL would give the umpires\MRO\Tribunal scope for “interpretation.” They’ll achieve what ever outcomes they want wrt to optics (less famous players will have the book thrown at them, more famous players won’t have to miss captaining their team in a GF,) and be able to tick the box for showing due care (ideally absolving themselves of any liability for lawsuits) by having the rules in place.

[Ants]

@Henry_s_Angry_Pills

@Bacchusfox

There is no such excuse “as I didn’t know about it”.

Employers have a strict duty of care no matter what.

So what happens if we find out that (hypothetical) tap water in an industrial area or an office block is contaminated - every company with affected employees get sued?

Victoria is a not-at-fault compensation state. Therefore, if you get injured at work, regardless of whose fault (or being nobody’s fault), you receive compensation. If the employer is negligent you can also sue for additional compensation.

[Eastie_Boi1]

Wonder if the changes will be meaningful or just superficial
https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/coupler.foxsports.com.au/api/v1/article/amp/afl/afl-news-2021-shane-tuck-death-brain-league-to-introduce-new-concussion-protocols/news-story/b1182d3839b2d40f7f64507e3c34f867

[SMJ]

So apparently the legal action has stalled because the AFL and its clubs have not retained the medical records of players who sustained concussions.

I repeat - they destroyed the MEDICAL RECORDS of players.

Looks like the AFL is crossing the line from garden variety corruption into full on medical negligence.

[Eastie_Boi1]

How far back are we talking?
AHPRA guidelines are to keep medical records for 7 years.

[mdso]

Footy players or not, wouldn’t it be sensible to ask for and keep a copy of your own medical records, just in case. If it isn’t happening yet, it needs to be spoken about.

[tinhillterror]

@SMJ

I repeat - they destroyed the MEDICAL RECORDS of players.

If (WHEN) the AFL admits (leaks) that there are no records, we all know that it will be THE CLUBS who were supposed to be keeping records. And then there will be a Herald Sun front page ‘NIGHT GRAND FINAL’ or something about a transgender player in the women’s league.

[Eastie_Boi1]

Records should be kept on site, so would/should be the clubs responsibility.

[Clone_Hirdy]

@mdso

I think there’s probably a lot of footballers by the time they finish their careers, are likely to have some sort of ABI. The possibility of hits to the head, the AFL must come down heavy on anyone no matter who it is, accident or not, with a minimum of six weeks. No player wants to be missing from the game for that long and it will place duty of care with the players.

Problem is that the harder the AFL is on players, the more likely opposition players will lead with the head to get frees. Absolutely deliberate hits to the head should be punished severely, but so should players trying to milk frees like Ward did last year.

[mdso]

In a word NO they shouldn’t but probably will if the game is on the line.

[westozziebomber]

completely agree.

[Ants]

@SMJ

So apparently the legal action has stalled because the AFL and its clubs have not retained the medical records of players who sustained concussions.

I repeat - they destroyed the MEDICAL RECORDS of players.

Looks like the AFL is crossing the line from garden variety corruption into full on medical negligence.

Well, according to the article that was posted above they only had a legal liability to hold onto the records for 7 years. So saying it was corruption when they were following the law seems pretty disingenuous.

[barnz]

Pretty egregious for a lawyer too.