Hot Topics: Sports Ethics

Blog Posts (12)

December 7, 2016

Is it Time for The NFL to Change Its Policy on Medical Marijuana?

by Keisha Ray, Ph.D.

Seantrel Henderson is a 24-year-old player on The National Football League’s (NFL) Buffalo Bills. Henderson is currently suspended from playing in the NFL because for the second time he has violated the league’s substance abuse policy.…

July 28, 2016

A Sporting Chance: Had We Been Willing, We Could Have Moved or Delayed the Rio Olympics

by Adam R. Houston, JD, MA, LLM

It looks like the Rio Olympics are indeed going to happen; fingers crossed that all the things that could go wrong – from filthy aquatic venues, to collapsing infrastructure, to threats of terrorism – do not.…

May 31, 2016

Response to Zika and the Olympics Letter

The following letter was received by bioethics.net in response to our link to a letter written by professionals urging the Olympics to be postponed this year because of the threat of Zika.…

May 27, 2016

Rio Olympics Later:­ For the Good of Both Public Health and Sport

by Arthur Caplan, Ph.D.

It is imperative that an open, transparent discussion of the risks of holding the Olympics as planned in Brazil occur as soon as possible.  …

November 12, 2015

Do we need more paternalism in the NFL to protect players from themselves?

by Keisha Ray, Ph.D.

This week the St. Louis Rams, a National Football League (NFL) team posted a picture on Twitter of player Wes Welker signing papers, making his departure from the Denver Broncos and his membership in the Rams organization official.…

October 30, 2015

Medical Ethics and School Football

by Steven H. Miles, MD and Shailendra Prasad, MD, MPH

This is a special pre-print posting of an editorial scheduled for the January 2016 issue of the American Journal of Bioethics.…

October 16, 2015

Expanding Notions of Discrimination: Genetic Information & Competitive Sports

by Craig Klugman, Ph.D.

During a periodic training on the university’s harassment policies today, I learned that my institution has added “genetic information” to the list of characteristics against which one cannot be discriminated.…

September 21, 2015

A Crucial Catch: Ethics, the NFL, and Public Health Advocacy

by Macey L. Henderson, J.D.

I enjoy watching my favorite NFL teams and players during football season. As the daughter of a local sports attorney who grew up down the street from the Indianapolis Colts complex, I have always been exposed to programs and events that highlight advocacy that the NFL and their respective team markets provide for communities year after year through high profile efforts.…

January 26, 2015

Can Bioethicists (in Good Conscience) Watch the NFL?

by Keisha Ray, Ph.D.

Every year the National Football League (NFL) makes between an estimated $7 billion- $9 billion making it the most profitable American professional sports league.…

June 23, 2014

Low sperm counts, fertility drugs, and the NFL

by Keisha Ray, Ph.D.

The use of performance enhancing drugs in professional sports is well known by the general public. The high profiled cases of Jose Canseco, Shawne Merriman, Roger Clemens, Alexander Rodriguez, and many, many others has contributed to the attention to this issue.…

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Published Articles (4)

American Journal of Bioethics: Volume 17 Issue 1 - Jan 2017

Tracking U.S. Professional Athletes: The Ethics of Biometric Technologies Katrina Karkazis & Jennifer R. Fishman

American Journal of Bioethics: Volume 16 Issue 1 - Jan 2016

Medical Ethics and School Football Steven H. Miles & Shailendra Prasad

American Journal of Bioethics: Volume 13 Issue 10 - Oct 2013

Sports Medicine and Ethics Daniela Testoni, Christoph P. Hornik, P. Brian Smith, Daniel K. Benjamin Jr. & Ross E. McKinney Jr.

American Journal of Bioethics: Volume 12 Issue 7 - Jul 2012

Out of Bounds? A Critique of the New Policies on Hyperandrogenism in Elite Female Athletes Katrina Karkazis

News (35)

August 29, 2016 8:00 am

Understanding the Controversy Over Caster Semenya (NY Times)

Caster Semenya of South Africa, heavily favored to win the Olympic women’s 800 meters, ran a quick opening round this week and then breezed past reporters.  Who could blame her?  Perhaps no female athlete has faced such brutal scrutiny by fellow competitors, sports officials and journalists.

June 15, 2016 8:26 am

WHO sees 'very low' risk of further Zika spread due to Olympics (Reuters)

There is a “very low risk” of further international spread of Zika virus as result of the Olympic Games to be held in Brazil, the heart of the current outbreak linked to birth defects, World Health Organization (WHO) experts said on Tuesday.

March 29, 2016 8:42 am

Blood Test for Concussions? Researchers Report Some Progress

New research bolsters evidence that a simple blood test may someday be used to detect concussions. It suggests that a protein linked with head trauma may be present in blood up to a week after injury, which could help diagnose patients who delay seeking treatment.

November 11, 2015 1:45 pm

Flag Football: The Alternative for Concerned Parents

Cliff Ward Jr. is a self-described football nut. The Hebron, Ohio, resident first played football in third grade. His father was a high-school football star. But his 9-year-old son, Ty, is playing something different—flag football, on a local YMCA team.

October 23, 2015 11:20 am

Concussion treatment, diagnosis focus of world sports conference

Medical experts and National Football League (NFL) officials will gather with peers from other top global sports on Saturday in a bid to accelerate how to properly diagnose and treat player concussions.

September 18, 2015 5:38 pm

New: 87 Deceased NFL Players Test Positive for Brain Disease

A total of 87 out of 91 former NFL players have tested positive for the brain disease at the center of the debate over concussions in football, according to new figures from the nation’s largest brain bank focused on the study of traumatic head injury.

August 6, 2015 12:49 pm

Dutee Chand, Female Sprinter With High Testosterone Level, Wins Right to Compete

The final appeals court for global sports further blurred the line separating male and female athletes on Monday, ruling that a common factor in distinguishing the sexes — the level of natural testosterone in an athlete’s body — is insufficient to bar some women from competing against females.

August 5, 2015 12:45 pm

Stanford bioethicist fights gender tests for female athletes

A final appeals court for global sports has ruled that Chand, a sprinter with the condition hyperandrogenism who was barred from international competition because of her high natural levels of testosterone, must be allowed to compete.

June 9, 2015 12:48 pm

Experts Slam Sports Policies That Ban Women With High Testosterone

The so-called “sex gap” in testosterone — the typical difference between men and women in blood levels of the hormone — shouldn’t be used to determine who is and isn’t a female athlete, according to a commentary published Thursday in the journal Science.

June 8, 2015 12:47 pm

Testosterone Rules for Women Athletes Are Unfair, Researchers Argue

Elite women athletes are currently barred from competing in top-tier competitions, such as the Olympic Games and World Championships, if their testosterone levels are too high.

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