Head Trauma and Football

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/11/opinion/head-trauma-football.html

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To the Editor:

Re “Football Destroyed My Husband’s Mind” (Sunday Review, Feb. 4):

I read Emily Kelly’s poignant essay as someone who was paralyzed 30 years ago while making a tackle in a college football game, and as the son of a Hall of Fame linebacker suffering from neurological disease caused by the thousands of hits he endured playing in college and professionally.

So while I have always loved football, I know the dangers.

There are steps to mitigate the risks, especially among youths. Now that there is considerable evidence of a relationship between head trauma in children and future neurological problems, contact football should be banned for those under 14.

Until such a ban, we need to enact national concussion assessment and intervention protocols; require parents or guardians to sign an authorization outlining the risks and potential consequences of playing tackle football; ensure that schools and leagues have liability insurance to cover the costs of catastrophic injuries; and mandate safety education and training for all involved in youth sports.

We can never reverse the devastating medical conditions that Rob Kelly and thousands of others are now confronting. But we can offer a better prognosis for our sons and daughters who play football and other sports.

MARC BUONICONTI, MIAMI

The writer is president of the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis.