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Anti-doping efforts look at sports doctors

International sports competitions marred by positive results of tests for banned substances are increasing attention on doctor involvement in the problem.

By Victoria Stagg Elliott, amednews staff. Aug. 20, 2001.

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The governing bodies of world-class sporting events have long struggled with the possibility of performance-enhancing drugs.

In the 30 years since the International Olympic Committee took a stand on the issue, athletes have been sanctioned, coaches have been banned, and sports federations constantly work to develop new rules and new tests to reduce the presence of these drugs.

Increasing pressure, however, is also being placed on physicians, who many believe have a significant role to play in both promoting drug-free sports and preventing athletes at all levels from competing with an unfair advantage.

"Physicians, especially those dealing with 14- to 17-year-old young athletes, can use their credibility, authority and stature to provide education dealing with these issues," said Andrew Pipe, MD, with the Canadian national team in varying capacities at five Olympic games and associate professor of surgery at the University of Ottawa.

Physicians can inform their patients about the risks of substances used to enhance performance, including steroids. They can also refuse to supply requested substances.

Or they can endure the same consequences as their athlete-patients.

A recent online poll by the World Anti-doping Agency, a foundation created by the International Olympic Committee two years ago, found that 94% of respondents felt that sports doctors should receive the same kind of professional sanctions as athletes for facilitating a doping offense.

A few physicians have already been chastised. During last year's Sydney Olympics, the Romanian team physician who gave one of the gymnasts under his care an over-the-counter cold remedy that later caused her to fail a drug test was asked to leave the Olympic village. [...]