[Ethics in sports medicine--health and/or performance?]

Abstract

Ethics in the field of sports medicine embraces a number of issues of general human interest. While it is important to determine the salubrious potential of exercise and sports, it is open to question whether it is reasonable to invest massive research resources in attempts to induce high-performance elite athletes to perform yet better, or to remedy sports injuries to enable athletes to continue exposing themselves to the risk of further injuries. When such questions arise as the extent to which physicians should attempt to modify unhealthy lifestyle factors, for example the use of doping, or whether it is right that athletes should take precedence in waiting lists for health care, it is important to be aware of the singular practical potential of sports medicine.