{"id":4120,"date":"2009-03-10T09:55:18","date_gmt":"2009-03-10T14:55:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/?p=4120"},"modified":"2009-03-10T09:56:59","modified_gmt":"2009-03-10T14:56:59","slug":"sports-paternalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/2009\/03\/sports-paternalism\/","title":{"rendered":"Sports Paternalism"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Matt Mitten <\/a>has an interesting new paper on SSRN <\/a>entitled (this is a mouthful!) “Student-Eligibility Rules Limiting Athletic Performance or Prohibiting Athletic Participation for Health Reasons Despite Medical Uncertainty: Legal and Ethical Considerations.”\u00a0 The paper discusses two policy problems in intercollegiate athletics that both turn on how much paternalism is appropriate in preventing student-athletes from doing things that may ultimately prove harmful to themselves.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The first problem is use of steroids.\u00a0 Although performance enhancing drugs are often condemned for giving some athletes an unfair advantage, Matt suggests that unfair advantages are an unavoidable feature of intercollegiate athletics, noting, for instance,\u00a0disparities in coaching and training facilities.\u00a0 Moreover, after reviewing the medical evidence, Matt concludes that “currently there are no definitive scientific or epidemiological studies evidencing that a healthy adult’s usage of anabolic steroids in appropriate dosages necessarily will have life-threatening or long-term serious health effects.”\u00a0 But, of course, the absence of conclusive evidence of\u00a0danger does not\u00a0mean that steroids are safe.\u00a0 Given uncertainty,\u00a0the question is whether athletes should be permitted to decide for themselves whether to bear the risk.<\/p>\n

The second problem is participation by student-athletes suffering from a medical condition (e.g., a spinal or cardiovascular abnormality) that may give rise to increased risks of serious or life-threatening injury.\u00a0 Again, the question is one of paternalism in the face of medical uncertainty: should the athlete himself or herself be given the right to decide whether to bear the risks?\u00a0 As with the steroid issue, Matt ultimately concludes that the NCAA and individual universities have “valid legal and ethical authority” to protect student-athletes from themselves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Matt Mitten has an interesting new paper on SSRN entitled (this is a mouthful!) “Student-Eligibility Rules Limiting Athletic Performance or Prohibiting Athletic Participation for Health Reasons Despite Medical Uncertainty: Legal and Ethical Considerations.”\u00a0 The paper discusses two policy problems in intercollegiate athletics that both turn on how much paternalism is appropriate in preventing student-athletes from 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