Brain Injury Laws

Brain injury laws are now being drawn up to protect people from harm, as well as compensate them when seriously and/or permanently injured. Some laws, designed to prevent the worst of injuries, have existed for a number of years. These include requirements to wear seatbelts in cars. More recent are laws that bicyclists must wear protective headgear.

Recently, legislation has been considered in a number of states that would set further guidelines to prevent such injury. For example, in the state of New York, the guidelines would specify how soon a head-injured student could return to a sports activity, physical education class, or contest. Students of many ages are known to "fudge" when it comes to telling truth that will keep them from doing something they want to do.

It seems remarkable that any school system hasn't been required to keep track of a student's injuries. Now, in the computer age, there's no excuse for that information not being available to administrators and coaches. Of course, the system may not be willing to allocate the resources, unless forced to do so by new legislation. School districts will also need to communicate with each other to maintain continuity when families relocate.

Laws and Quality of Life

Additional legislation would be welcomed by the millions of Americans of all ages who are living with the devastation of their brain injuries. It's not enough to save lives; now we need to improve the quality of those confined to their homes or with minimum mobility and functioning in society. This will undoubtedly require an improved level of funding. At the same time, no family needs unnecessary interference from government at any level, so laws that are too invasive should not be pursued further.