Stephanie Lovett-Bowman, Thursday, July 14, 2011 | Filed under: Legislation
Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon signed into law this week a law that protects student-athletes from possible brain injury by requiring them to be removed from competition for 24 hours when they are suspected of having sustained a concussion. In such cases, student-athletes may only return to play if they receive clearance from a health-care provider.
The
Interscholastic Youth Sports Brain Injury Prevention Act delegates to the Missouri department of health and senior services the task of promulgating guidelines to protect student-athletes against long-term injury. The Act does not specify precisely how school districts are to determine when a student-athlete is thought to have sustained a concussion, nor does the Act address whether a school district may be subject to liability for failing to remove a student-athlete from competition.