Former Western Bulldogs premiership participant Liam Picken has launched authorized motion towards the AFL, his former membership and membership medical doctors over concussions he suffered by way of his profession.
Picken performed 198 video games for the membership however finally retired in 2019 attributable to ongoing concussion signs.
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Now simply 36-years-old, Picken suffered a number of concussions all through his profession, and claimed he was returned to the sector regardless of struggling concussions all through his profession.
Picken’s attorneys claimed he returned a number of irregular cognitive take a look at outcomes throughout his profession however was not alerted to the very fact.
Picken additionally reportedly suffers from photophobia, or an aversion to shiny gentle.
In paperwork filed with the Supreme Court of Victoria on Wednesday, and shared by The Daily Mail, Picken claims the membership and medical doctors breached its obligation of care to him.
Principal lawyer at National Compensation Lawyers, Michael Tanner informed The Age Picken was unaware of the extent of his head accidents.
“From Liam’s perspective, he was never made aware of his failings of any cognitive assessment he ever underwent. Further to that, he did not necessarily understand the full extent of his injuries or his symptoms,” Tanner stated.
“What he did was voice his concerns about his symptoms. The medical advice given to him at the time was (he was) still fit to play.”
The AFL doubled its concussion stand down coverage from six days in 2020 to 12 in 2021, however it has lengthy come beneath scrutiny.
Picken additionally highlighted two concussions as being notably egregious, pointing to the spherical three 2017 conflict towards Fremantle and a pre-season match towards Hawthorn in Ballarat in March 2018.
In the 2017 incident, Picken was concussed when Tommy Sheridan landed on the previous Bulldog’s head, which he claims left him with a “clear diagnosis of brain injury or concussion”.
However, he claimed he was not examined for concussion through a SCAT 3 take a look at and 5 days after the incident, he was returned to full coaching after present process a Digital Cognitive Assessment. He stated the advice from the take a look at was to attend for signs to resolve however alleged he was not offered the outcomes.
The 2018 incident was a nasty head conflict however that the outcomes had been related.
In 2018, Picken’s spouse Annie Nolan additionally outlined to The Herald Sun the impression of her husband’s concussions.
“The worst thing for me is that when he actually had the knock, I wasn’t there, but all three of our kids were in the cheer squad, so I’ve heard the story through the cheer squad,” she stated.
“Mally knew straight away, and apparently he was saying, “Get up Dad, get up Dad,” however the cheer squad members all circled the women to guard them from seeing it.”
“The girls didn’t see it was Liam, but then as Liam got carried off Delphi asked, ‘Where are they taking that dead man?’
“It sounds so dramatic, but it made me cry when I heard that, because she didn’t realise that was her dad.”
Picken is reportedly claiming lack of earnings and ongoing medical exams from now till retirement age.
He isn’t the primary participant to launch authorized motion as former Collingwood AFLW vice-captain Emma Grant launched a civil lawsuit after a concussion within the 2020 pre-season led to her early retirement.
A category motion was revealed final month with Margalit Injury Lawyers managing principal Michel Margalit claiming the agency had been “inundated” with claims of life-changing head accidents from former gamers.
“Action should have been taken many, many years ago, not only to change the protocols, to increase education but also to financially support people both once injured but also to deter them so they don’t return to play too early,” Margalit informed SEN’s Whateley.
Margalit referred to class actions by former NFL gamers, who had seen greater than $1b paid out in compensation.
“We are looking at the types of compensation that’s been garnered internationally. For the NFL class action in the US, the initial settlements there was close to (USD) $1 billion,” Ms Margalit added.
“That is a very realistic figure in terms of this class action.”
The likes of Danny Frawley, Shane Tuck and Polly Farmer have all been recognized with Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) after loss of life.
Source: www.news.com.au
