Ethical Approaches and Malpractice in Sports Medicine

Sport has been adopted by many people around the world and has been accepted as a way of life. It not only contributes to the consciousness of exercise required for healthy life, but also contributes to the solution of many problems that people face in their daily lives thanks to the principles such as brotherhood, interlocking and justice. The practice of sports medicine has some differences in terms of ethical conflicts compared to other medicine practices. In addition to the classical physician-patient relationship, managing the physician-patient-team relationship, especially sports team physicians, forms the basis of these differences. During the management of this relationship, sports physicians may face some ethical conflicts. The physician must act in an honest and conscientious manner in his approach to the athlete and in his decisions. However, it is another important ethical behavior that the physician provides sufficient information to the athlete and enables the athlete to decide on his own body and act freely. Particularly financial pressures on teams and athletes, as well as the competition and ambition of success that are at the core of sports, can create dilemmas that can affect sports physicians' decision making processes. However, sports physicians are people who are expected to comply with ethical principles without losing their professionalism. If these ethical principles are not followed, malpractice situations may arise and physicians may encounter judicial processes. With the development of technology, many innovations in the field of sports medicine, as in every field, come into practical use. The role of these innovations in the development of sports medicine practices is very important. However, it is important to keep professional information up-to-date in the process of possible ethical problems and optimal decision making that these developments can create. Sports physicians have a great role in dealing with ethical and legally inappropriate situations, especially the use of doping. This review will review possible ethical problems and malpractice situations that sports physicians may encounter.