Reducing brain damage in boxers

Pearn, John

doi:10.5694/j.1326-5377.1998.tb139007.x

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 5 publications

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“…This would no doubt reduce some health risks. 21 The rule changes would at the same time create a substantially diVerent sport, and leave open the question of whether the new boxing would be an athletic activity that sport physicians should welcome as "reformed." Would there, for example, be an ethical improvement if some other body part were the target area for scoring in boxing?…”

Section: Concluding Recommendationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sport medicine and the ethics of boxing.

Leclerc

Herrera

1999

Br J Sports Med

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In the light of medical evidence of the health risks associated with boxing, a watchful agnostic position among sport physicians is no longer justifiable. The normal activity in a boxing match places the athletes at risk of head injury, some of which may be diYcult to detect and impossible to repair. This suggests that sport physicians and others expert in the prevention and diagnosis of such injuries should take a public stand against boxing, as other medical associations have. Although there is a need for continuing research into the health risks, doctors can in the interim take steps to increase public awareness of these risks. Sport physicians in particular can make a strong public statement by also ending their professional involvement with boxing. This need not be interpreted as paternalism; doctors are qualified neither to make laws nor to restrict private behaviour. Sport physicians are, however, well equipped to advise those who do make laws and those who choose to engage in boxing. In the end, because this stance against boxing will probably reduce the number of brain injuries in certain athletes, autonomy will be preserved, rather than restricted. (Br J Sports Med 1999;33:426-429)

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Section: Concluding Recommendationsmentioning

confidence: 99%