Skip to main content

Many professional and amateur athletic activities, including contact sports, can put participants at risk of injury. Physicians can provide valuable information to help sports participants, dancers, and others make informed decisions about whether to initiate or continue participating in such activities.

Physicians who serve in a medical capacity at athletic, sporting, or other physically demanding events should protect the health and safety of participants.

In this capacity, physicians should:

  1. Base their judgment about an individual’s participation solely on medical considerations.
  2. Not allow the desires of spectators, promoters of the event, or even the injured individual to govern a decision about whether to remove the participant from the event.
AMA Principles of Medical Ethics: I, VII
Read the Principles

Council Reports

Learning Center Resources