A local board of education in New Jersey has reached a $2.8 million settlement with the family of a high school football player, who died shortly after suffering a concussion —his second in a little over three weeks —in a junior varsity football game. The settlement came as lawyers were preparing to pick jurors for a trial to be held in Essex County Superior Court.
Ryne Dougherty, a junior linebacker on the Montclair High School football team, suffered a concussion during practice on September 18, 2008. He was participating in live blocking and tackling drill at the time. On October 6, Dougherty was reportedly cleared by his personal physician, but with measures in place to determine his readiness to return to play. A week later, he competed in a game against Don Bosco Prep. He suffered a seizure after bringing down a ball handler and never regained consciousness. On October 15, he was taken off life support.
In the fall of 2009, the family sued the school district for negligence, alleging that a baseline brain function test was administered to all football players on Oct. 2, 2008, and that Ryne’s test “revealed objectively abnormal results.”
The plaintiffs also alleged that the school district was negligent because it failed to follow the aforementioned readiness measures after he received provisional clearance on October 6.
The school district countered that the family’s personal physician cleared Ryne, prematurely. She “knew or should have known that Ryne had not completely recovered from prior concussions and was still exhibiting signs and symptoms of post-concussion syndrome when she cleared Ryne to participate in football in October 2008,” it argued.
The defendant also argued that the ImPACT test that was administered was meant to establish a baseline score for each of the players, which could later be used in the event of suffering a head injury, and not as a measure of Ryne’s readiness to return to play. Further, it alleged that the scores of all of the players tested on Oct. 2 were later voided because the disruptive behavior of a student in the room had affected the results.
Central to the case, from a medical standpoint was “Second Impact Syndrome,” a condition which afflicts high-school age athletes who have not fully recovered from a concussion, leaving them vulnerable to even the most minor impact to the head.
The condition may not have been well-known then but it didn’t stop the school’s trainer from coming under harsh criticism. Robb Rehberg, past president of the Athletic Trainers Society of New Jersey and an expert hired by the family’s lawyers, wrote in an expert report that the athletic trainer’s “laissez-faire attitude toward Ryne’s return to participation in football flies in the face of sound professional judgment one would expect from a reasonable athletic trainer and ultimately allowed Ryne to participate in the game that led to his death.” In particular, he cited the fact that Ryne checked the box next to “Fogginess” when taking the ImPACT test.
The plaintiffs charged that the athletic trainer should have monitored Ryne for a five-day, return-to-play period, gauging his ability to handle increasing levels of exertion before allowing him back on the field. But she reportedly testified in a deposition that she only saw him on three of those days. She claimed that on the others two days, he did not show up.
She claimed there was a miscommunication with the coaches about whether he was cleared. She also seemed to shift blame to the physician, telling the plaintiff’s attorney:
“I felt that he was cleared by his doctor.”
