High cost of safe sports: medical help to avert student sports tragedies is an expensive problem law makers are trying to solve.

• Author: Boulard, Garry

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Last fall, the small town of Rush Springs in south-central Oklahoma was shocked when Justin Barney, a 14-year-old high school freshman, died from a head injury after a collision in a football game. Barney's death prompted many in a region where Friday night football is king to confront a painful reality. "As much as we love football around here, it was thought that we really could make it safer for those who play it," says Joe Dorman, an Oklahoma representative whose district includes Rush Springs.

Dorman noted there were no doctors or certified athletic trainers on site when Barney was injured. And even more troubling, it took 20 minutes before an ambulance arrived to take Barney to the University of Oklahoma Medical Center, where more than a week later he died from a broken blood vessel in his brain.

Dorman launched a study that found a statewide problem: Only 34 of 342 high schools with football programs in Oklahoma had a certified athletic trainer on staff, and even fewer had access during a game to either a doctor or an ambulance.

A certified athletic trainer at Barney's game could have at least prevented the boy from returning to play after his initial injury, although it is uncertain whether even that would have saved his life.

Like Dorman, legislators in other states also are concerned about having proper medical care available quickly when student athletes are hurt or become ill on the field. But they also are reluctant to impose on schools the financial burden that requiring trainers would bring. Some are exploring other options, such as heart defibrillators or sharing trainers.

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THE BEST OPTION

Having a certified athletic trainer on hand "is very important in situations like this, not only because they have the training and background to diagnose whether someone has a problem on the field," says Dr. Frederick Mueller, "but they have the knowledge to determine, perhaps most important, whether or not an individual should be put back into the game after an injury has taken place."

Mueller, the director of the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research at the University of North Carolina, points out serious injuries can occur in any kind of sport--soccer, basketball, lacrosse and even cheerleading--not just football.

But high schools rarely have someone in place to provide professional care in the event of a problem. "Usually there is no certified athletic trainer or physician...