Doping and Medical Ethics

Doping in sports is an old theme, and one that can be expected to continue to accompany sports in the future. Doping has become a topic of ethics mainly in two respects: in respect to the difficulties in giving convincing reasons for a legal ban on doping; and in respect to the unsettled questions in the context of encounters of physicians and doping athletes. The article makes an attempt to do justice to both topics. In the first part, it defends the view that the most compelling argument for the ban on doping is a principle of naturalness and that most other arguments are insufficient both singly and cumulatively. It calls into question, however, whether the argument of naturalness is sufficient to justify penal sanctions. Since the concept of naturalness is highly indeterminate, the limits drawn by the doping agencies are correspondingly controversial but, at the same time, without alternative. In the second part, the article states the obvious incompatibility of active doping, even as an accessory with the code of medical ethics and explains the frequent violation of this norm by the role conflict in which the physician finds him- or herself in his or her relation to an individual athlete. Finally, it recommends that more attention be given in medical education to familiarizing physicians with the conflicts they will have to face in connection with doping.