Concussions II

[mantle]

I guess my final question is: Is a Certified Athletic Trainer considered a Health Care Professional and can he/she make the sideline decision as to whether a player is able to return to competition?

[AlUpstateNY]

That is a determination made by the entity that deploys the "Health Care Professional", and their responsibility, as well as liability. 

[Atlanta Blue]

It's actually a question for your state association.  They either determine what is an authorized health care professional, or in some cases (such as ours), leave it up to each local school board (in other words, they passed the buck).  We can have a game between schools from different counties where an ATC is an authorized health care professional for one team, but not for the other.  It's dumb, but it's the way it is.

But the state also absolved all officials from making any determination of who is or who isn't.  The official tells the coach a player is possibly injured.  The responsibility for having him checked by an authorized health care professional lies completely with the coach.  If the player returns, the official is to assume a proper  health care professional cleared him.  The official doesn't have to chase down the health care professional, that's the coach's job.

[AlUpstateNY]

Absolutely agree, but considering many of us work on multiple levels below HS supervised, if after being cleared for participation by whomever the designated Health Care Professional is, should the game official have additional concerns, following additional observations, he is authorized to send the player back to the sideline for additional evaluation.

[HLinNC]

What does your state say?  Better to ask them than a bunch of knuckleheads on a message board.