Ethical and Medico-Legal Issues in Injury Management and Return to Sport in Basketball
Unlike many traditional doctor–patient relationships, the sports medicine physician has a unique association with their patient due to the underlying team dynamic. This exclusive relationship is often termed the doctor–patient–team triad (NCAA 2014–2015 sports medicine handbook. 25th ed. 2014. Accessed 7 July 2019). This doctor–patient–team creates ethical and medico-legal dilemmas regarding confidentiality, conflicts of interest, and return to play. The standards of care for providing medical services in sports medicine are constantly changing but sports medicine legal cases focus on two things: (1) Did the practitioner know the proper professional standards when providing medical care (i.e., is the physician CPR certified)? (2) Did the practitioner perform the standard of care (i.e., can the physician perform CPR in the event of an emergency)?
