Quote:
Originally Posted by maven
Least appropriate in what respect? All the other people you mention are partial and have a rooting interest in keeping a potentially injured player in the game. The only impartial people on the field are the officials, and the law requires them to err on the side of safety.
That said, I don't like its implementation either. I don't want to defend a bad law, but the problem with it is not its rationale.
As for lawsuits, meh. Ohio's law doesn't increase our risk exposure significantly. When a player gets injured and the parents decide to sue, the lawyers will name every adult within reach: coaches, school administrators, the school board, the state athletic association, the officials on the field, and anyone else they can think of. You throw that stuff at everyone and see where it might stick.
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Least appropriate in that we do not know the kid, so we don't have a baseline of knowledge on what "unusual" behavior is. Parents and coaches do have this knowledge. We have not received medical training similar to a trainer or doctor.
The underlying theme of this law is that we can't trust parents, coaches, trainers or doctors to protect our kids; and, therefore, we will put the duty on officials who have no expertise in either (a) the child (b) or concussion.