Virginia Beach, VA Head Injury Lawyer Reports – Ex Boxer Battles Parkinson’s Disease in TV Series
By John Cooper, Virginia Beach, VA Brain and Head Injury Attorney
The tortuous battle against Parkinson’s Disease waged by boxing trainer Freddie Roach has been depicted in a six-part HBO documentary.
This degenerative disease of the central nervous system is common in boxers and former boxers, including most famously Muhammad Ali. It’s associated with traumatic brain injury caused by numerous blows to the head.
“In Roach’s case, the belief is it resulted from the consistent head trauma he endured during a boxing career that lasted through 150 amateur fights and 54 professional ones — the last five of which came after his longtime trainer and mentor, Eddie Futch, told him to retire,” the Boston Herald reported.
Boxing is not the only sport which is waking up to the issue of head injuries and their long term effects.
Following a number of high profile suicides by football players such as David Duerson, who suffered neurological problems after numerous concussions, the NFL is taking the issue of knocks to the head on the field more seriously.
Likewise school sports. Virginia’s Student Athlete Protection Act became law in 2012. The Act directs the Virginia Board of Education (BOE) to develop and distribute concussion management guidelines to local school divisions in the Commonwealth. Each local school division should develop policies and procedures to identify evidence of suspected concussions in student-athletes.
Student-athletes and their parents need to review information on concussions annually and sign a statement acknowledging receipt of such information while a student athlete who is suspected of sustaining a concussion should be removed from play.
As experienced Norfolk, VA based brain and head injury attorneys we see many of these injuries in car wrecks, where they can sometimes be difficult to diagnose initially. Given the stricter rules regarding school sports, there’s also more potential for lawsuits where authorities fail to abide by the new rules or let athletes keep on playing after a blow to the head.
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The Norfolk and Virginia Beach based personal injury law firm, Cooper Hurley, handles car, truck, and motorcycle injuries as well as brain injury, wrongful death, railroad workers’ injuries (FELA) mesothelioma and medical malpractice. John Cooper and Jim Hurley have over 40 years of combined experience in handling auto injury accident claims. Attorney John Cooper has been named to Virginia “Super Lawyers” since 2010 and has been a member since 2011 of the Multimillion dollar Advocates Roundtable. Cooper Hurley represents people hurt in accidents in Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News and throughout VA, and always put the best interests of the our clients first. The firm is recognized by other lawyers as “AV” by Martindale-Hubbell, a national attorney rating service, for our top level of legal skill and highest ethical standards. If you need help or advice about a serious injury, please call us (757) 455 -0077. For a free consultation with a specialized Hampton Roads, Virginia personal injury lawyer contact us through this website
