This story of a high school student left injured badly enough to have suffered a brain injury may surprise you, especially if you have children involved in the sport. You’d expect that there would be people around to protect your child, but that wasn’t the case for this young teen. The Alabama-based student was a football player, and he was allegedly assaulted by a teammate and left unconscious for around 30 minutes before he had any help or medical treatment. The 15-year-old student is now part of a lawsuit against the former school principal, the head football coach and a non-school employee assigned to supervise the students.
If you’ve ever been hurt and suffered from a brain injury or know someone who has, you are aware that time is an important factor for treatment and recovery. In this case, the boy suffered the injury when he was punched by a teammate and fell face first onto a concrete floor. At that point, the teen had passed out.
He suffered injuries including a traumatic brain injury, loss of consciousness, a left frontal subdural hematoma, an epidural hematoma, a broken nose, nausea, severe headaches, memory loss, and a left frontal linear skull fracture. What’s worse is the fact that the teen was left there without treatment for at least 30 minutes. The lawsuit is reportedly claiming negligence for failing to render medical assistance to the teen after the incident.
These severe injuries have allegedly made it so the teen will not have a normal life in the future. You can imagine how that would be for your child and why this kind of situation shouldn’t be allowed to happen again. His family is now seeking unspecified compensation for the damages caused, and they are seeking compensation for the future psychological treatment the boy may need. They are also requesting money for medical treatments and other compensation to make up for the educational opportunities the teen will no longer be able to take part in. Finally, they are also asking for expenses relating to the litigation of the case. All of this money may help, but that won’t help this teen return to the condition he was in before the assault and resulting injuries.
Source: AL.com, “Alabama high school football player assaulted by teammate, left unconscious for 30 minutes at school workout, lawsuit says” Paul Gattis, Apr. 09, 2014
