Employment Law, Union, and Torts Issues

Employment Law, Union, and Torts Issues
By: Anthony Mc Fadden | 05/22/2010


The biggest issue in sports that I can think of is going on right now. This is the issue of injuries in sports and athlete health coverage. Unlike an injury at a regular job, it is easy to get workman compensation with your employer. When you’re talking about an athlete, and dealing with millions of dollars, now things get a bit more difficult. With so many injuries happening in sports all over the world and some being career threatening, physicians and doctors are getting scared to work with sports teams. They are fearful of the lawsuits that can follow because of possible claims of malpractice.

One article titled, “ Team doctors rattled by threat of malpractice suits,” talks about how insurance companies are beginning to stop covering athletes and franchises because of the injury liabilities (King 17) Because the insurance companies are refusing to cover the athletes, physicians are starting to turn athletes away. The article explains how team doctors were being dropped because of the malpractice funds was dropped from teams. This cause teams league wide to scramble and find coverage. The reason is that team owners don’t want to come out of pocket to pay for injured employees.

In another article, “Total disability policies often don’t allow a comeback attempt,” which explained that when an athlete sustains a career ending injury they can’t participate in any games or practice if they want to receive they benefits (Crosner, and Pasich 14). If they do their disability checks would become void immediately. The article also states that the policies are different upon individual agreements with an insurance company. There is also a waiting period for those athletes that are able to return to the sport. The article explains that it’s the athlete’s responsibility to understand their policies waiting period so their insurance is not canceled for returning too early.

Injuries occur in every sport all over the world. It is the doctor’s job to make the athlete fully aware of their current injuries. It is also the doctor’s job to make the athlete aware of the consequences for continuing to play the sport with that injury. On the reverse it’s the athlete responsibility to follow the doctors orders and understand the consequences if they continue to play the sport with their injury. In the end, like every other person living in on this planet, athletes need insurance too.


References

Crosner, Shaun, and Kirk Pasich. "Total disability policies often don’t allow a
comeback attempt." Sports Business Journal (2009): 14. Web. 23 May 2010. .
King, Bill. "Team doctors rattled by threat of malpractice suits." Sports Business
Journal (2004): 17. Web. 23 May 2010. .