Concussions and the NHL

(c) Michelle Kenneth

As an ongoing discussion on this site, I wanted to share with you the latest NHL concussion story.

This comes from Business Insider: Jeremy Roenick Describes Life After 13 Concussions.

His story is a rather sad tale.  He experienced his first concussion at 19 years old.  This was long before the NHL was doing anything about concussions.  The medical research just wasn’t there.  They handed him an ice pack for his head and he was back in the game the next night.

After Derek Boogaard’s death, the discussion has opened up about concussions, CTE and how the NHL is going to react to those situations.

While players cite that concussions are going to happen when they’re hitting each other against the boards at 30 miles per hour, doctors are citing the need to stop fighting on the ice.

Roenick’s life after his 13 concussions shows that there was trauma to his brain.  Many memories are missing.  He has a problem with speech and finding the right words.  That’s tough, considering he is a sportscaster.

Over 200 former NHL players have filed suit against the NHL.  A judge has consolidated the lawsuit into one class action lawsuit.  In a similar action, the NFL settled their own concussion class action lawsuit for $870 million.

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