Student athletes who suffer a concussion would be taken out of play and not allowed to participate until cleared by a health care provider approved by the state Board of Education under a bill filed by Rep. Billy Mitchell, D-Stone Mountain.
House Bill 673, called the Return to Play Act of 2012, proposes to put new guidelines in place by July 2013 and would require parents of athletes to sign off on materials describing concussions and their effects on brain function beginning in January 2013.
The effects of concussions has become a hot topic in recent years from schools to professional ranks. Four former professional football players who live in Fulton County sued the NFL in December, saying the league misrepresented and downplayed potential damage from head injuries. The men claim they suffer from memory loss, headaches and sleeplessness as a result of multiple traumatic brain injuries during their careers.
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