Everyone loves
to watch the Olympics because there is a course of about 2 weeks in every four
years where the country you support joins together and supports one common
goal. Seeing those athletes standing on the top of the pedestal with a gold
medal around their necks shows pride like nothing else. There is something else
that has come out especially in the Olympics in recent years which is the
doping epidemic. Many sports are guilty of it, from cycling to weightlifting
and many others. There are many things to consider when looking at this
ethically. The first is the principle of non-male ficence which is the obligation
of physicians to not inflict harm on others. By giving athletes these drugs
they are causing them to have severe side effects. They are violating this
principle because many physicians prescribing these drugs to athletes are not
disclosing the side effects or try to dissuade athletes from using them.
There are some counter-arguments that
come with this. Some say that the role of doctors is to make the patient
better. Using these drugs they are repairing athletes to what they once were if
they are returning from an injury. These athletes are asking for these specific
drugs and this is their lifestyle. Some of these drugs can be therapeutic but
there is a very blurry line between therapeutic and ergogenic. Some athletes
use these banned drugs as a shortcut and are then denied treatment, but if they
do not abuse them then what is the fine line?
Another
principle that is looked at is the cost of anti-doping practices. Not only is
doping being used with professional athletes, but they are also an epidemic
with amateur athletes and the general society. What is being put into question
is if everyone is doing it, then why can’t professional athletes? This question
has been brought up in many countries and has even prompted some countries to
decreased budgeting for anti-doping tests on professional athletes.
There are still many questions surrounding the
ethics of doping in the Olympics and many professional sports here in the
United States. Where do we draw the line between therapeutic and ergogenic? How
do we keep costs down of testing and keep tests consistent between all
countries?
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5215887/
My father used to be a marathon runner, and he used to tell me about some of these crazy things runners would do to be faster. One thing he mentioned was blood doping with your own blood. Rather than injecting something like EPO, the athlete would remove some of their own blood and store it. During that time, they would train, their body would compensate and make more RBC's, then before the race, they would replace the stored blood. Their argument was that it wasn't cheating because it was their own blood. As of now, it is really hard to trace, but it is still deemed illegal by a lot of sports (Lippi & Banfi, 2006). I don't think that it is the job of the physician to make the athlete better than they naturally are, and that is where I draw my line; the natural ability of an athlete should not be altered for better or worse. If the athlete is injured or something along those lines, then the argument changes somewhat. Because athletes choose to cheat, tests need to be implemented, and that is just going to be a cost that needs to be paid.
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Lippi, G., & Banfi, G. (2006). Blood transfusions in athletes. Old dogmas, new tricks. Clinical Chemistry And Laboratory Medicine, 44(12), 1395-1402.
This is a good post that looks at all of the ethical dilemmas involved in doping that goes on in sports. I think that when the physicians and athletes give themselves some sort of advantage through drugs but maybe aren't aware that they are doing it something that can not be judged as harshly has someone who knowingly is increasing their abilities beyond what they would normally be. I think that it defeats that whole purpose of competition and these shortcuts although they may have great short-term outcomes, in the long run, they can have devastating effects and thats just not an ethical thing to have a hand in, especially for physicians.
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