Michigan Football, Team 138, 2017 Season.

[AlabamAlum]

I don't think Purdue is on the hook here for any medmal claim. There is no mandate for xray equipment at the stadium (and it wouldn't have helped here). The M staff would decide whether he went to the student center by golf cart or the hospital by ambulance. They would also decide whether he had a brace or was packaged in any way.

For Speight to sue he would have to show how his injury was worsened or his recovery delayed due to his care and the decisions made by the M staff. That may be a difficult road in this case.

[hack]

If he's going to make a full recovery, which the dad indicates, no. Questions of liability aside, it's still pretty dismaying. IMO football players are owed the best care available.

[AlabamAlum]

As written, it was a cluster fuck. No doubt.

And Purdue (and all schools who do this) need to stop with this "make the visitors' lockerroom as shitty as possible" gamesmanship.

The visitors' lockerroom at Bryant-Denny is very nice. About the only gamesmanship we play is that it is named "The Fail Room" - a wealthy donor named Jimmy Fail (not kidding) paid for the remodel and, of course, asked for it to be named after him. But this happens in the SEC, too. Most notably at TAMU. Among other things, they will turn the AC off in110F weather. The Mississippi schools visitors' areas are unbelievably shitty, too.

[Jeff Buchanan]

.......For Speight to sue he would have to show how his injury was worsened or his recovery delayed due to his care and the decisions made by the M staff. That may be a difficult road in this case.

Technically correct ...... probably.

Except, negligence can be assigned if the treating providers varied from community standards of care.

We really don't know if that is the case but:

(1) If the information we have with regard to Speight's post neck injury care and transport is correct, not stabilizing his spine and transporting him upright in a van varies from standard of care that I'm familiar with in the case of neck injuries.

(2) We'd have to know what steps were taken once Speight reached the hospital but this whole story is a bit weird. Who is the attending? Is it the ortho MD riding with Speight in the van? Did they go to the ER or out-patient imaging? Sounds to me that they went straight to imaging.

The patient has a neck injury. I'm not sure the MD riding with Speight was justified under the circumstances in caring for Speight (if that is what happened) - going direct to imaging and not handing his care off to the ER. That's a tough one but I could see a case for negligence based on variance from standard of care.

While it does not appear that Speight was harmed, the risk that was taken in his care according to the story we have is huge and those risks were avoidable had standard of care for such injuries been undertaken.

[iam416]

What AlabamAlum is saying, and shockingly enough, he is correct, is that in order to prevail on any tort claim the claimant must show injury proximately (legal term!) caused by the negligence.

You can be negligent out the ass all day long. In fact, I'm fairly certainly that's how you live your life -- well, teetering between negligence and recklessness. If you don't harm anyone then no one can recover against you. So, you've raised the question of whether or not there was negligent conduct in the first instant. AA is saying, so what? even if there was if it didn't proximately cause harm there's no claim.

Speight would need to show:

(1) Negligence and
(2) Harm proximately caused by said negligence.

Gotta be both.

[paul daugherity]

There probably was negligence. However, to proceed, really to be successful in a PI suit, Speight must show: duty, breach, cause and harm. He is going to have a tough time showing that the negligence caused him any harm. My guess is they realize this, so they went to the court of public opinion with details of what happened.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Paul, good point.

[Jeff Buchanan]

talent ..... what if Speight is never cleared to play again?

I know, purely speculative but that would certainly prove the 4th element, right?

[AlabamAlum]

talent ..... what if Speight is never cleared to play again?

I know, purely speculative but that would certainly prove the 4th element, right?

I'm not Talent - but you'd have to be able to show that the delay in treatment caused it.

[AlabamAlum]

This is pretty standard fare for anyone in hospital admin.

Now, can the patient call the State and JCAHO? Sure. So you kiss their ass anyway.

[froot loops]

It doesn't seem like a lawsuit is coming. Public and private criticism can lead to the university and the conference to deploy a best practices if they haven't already. You're doing this to vent and prevent the next time it happens. Having a dingy lockerroom isn't that pertinent, it's silly but it will open you up to criticism. Note that the situation that arises where you need to immobilize a player and send them to the hospital in an ambulance doesn't happen often, but you need to have people on site that are prepared to do it. The trainer needs to take charge on the field.

A big unknown is how much they knew at the time of the injury, it didn't seem like an obvious neck injury in real time as far as I could tell from the TV Broadcast. The trainer needs to take charge, but sometimes the player will not be truthful with the symptoms. Some players will try and be tough and not tell you anything.

[iam416]

I'm not Talent - but you'd have to be able to show that the delay in treatment caused it.

Correct. And correct.

[UMStan White]

Talent is 100% correct. As to whether Speight can ever play again to succeed in lawsuit he would have to prove that his inablity to play again was the result of the lack of care he received and not as a result of his initial injury during the course of the game. He may have sustained "some injury" because of some alleged fault (ie increased pain) but the cost of a medmal case would GREATLY outweigh any potential recovery. That is why the "frivolous lawsuit" argument is myth not reality. If one is filing "frivolous lawsuits" he or she is going broke in a hurry. Litigation is EXTREMELY expensive. Trust me I know, having spent as much as $250,000.00 of my own money in some cases.

[UMStan White]

It is however absolutely amazing that a multi-million dollar program would not have a protocol for handling neck injuries when just bout every high school program in this country has such a protocol

[Jeff Buchanan]

It is however absolutely amazing that a multi-million dollar program would not have a protocol for handling neck injuries when just bout every high school program in this country has such a protocol

This is my biggest complaint and concern going forward. I really don't give a rat's ass about the lack of an XR Machine at Purdue although it would be a good idea.

This is almost like Hoke claiming he did not see the injury nor know about Morris being concussed until after the game.

I'll admit, you probably could not see the full extent of the forward flexion injury real time but I tend to think this is immaterial. It's a neck injury. The head Michigan AT should have called for stabilization immediately, gotten Speight on a back board and carted him off the field straight to a waiting ambulance and then taken to the ER.

It surprises me that the ortho MD reportedly on the scene allowed the process to unfold as it did. You CANNOT be over cautious with neck injuries and the risk to the spinal cord. No EMT that I know of that wants to keep working would have treated Speight like he was treated at the scene nor transported him in a POV to a hospital for further eval and treatment.