Applied Ethics Of Concussions In Youth Sports

The NFL and other organizations that have instances of concussions are simply not going to go away. While many will outweigh the rewards financially, for playing pro football with the costs of a shorter life, others will consider if concussions should be an acceptable part of the game. In order to continue allowing sports with higher than average amounts of concussions applied ethics needs to be implemented.
The decision of whether to play or not to play changes based on the level. For instance a coach “has a duty to provide for the safety of those under his or her charge and even more so in youth sports. At the professional level, players have access to doctors, agents, teams, unions and leagues that monitor safety issues” (Thornton, Champion Jr., & Ruddell, 2012, p. 125).
From the standpoint of the doctor they are just ethically bound to educate and protect athletes to the best of their ability from sports concussions (Cleveland Clinic, 2014). Concussions in football are an implied risk with the sports and the damage to mental health falls into applied ethics.
Below are some Mandatory Safeguards (Cleveland Clinic, 2014) being suggested.
Per suggestions by medical professionals additional steps can be put in place to help awareness and diagnosis if any player shows symptoms.
1) Mandatory baseline cognitive testing as part of sports