Medical Ethics in Sport

Medical ethics gives the sport and exercise medicine (SEM) doctor a structured way to reason through difficult decisions, which in sport arrive often and under pressure.

The widely used framework set out by Beauchamp and Childress rests on 4 principles: respect for autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence and justice. In sport they shape everyday questions: who to tell, whether an athlete is fit to play, how to weigh a return-to-sport risk, and what to do when the interests of an athlete, a club and a competition pull apart.