title: Football for life versus antidoping for the masses: ethical antidoping issues and solutions based on the extenuating experiences of an elite footballer competing while undergoing treatment for metastatic testicular cancer.
abstract: It is thankfully rare for extenuating circumstances to fully test the processes and procedures enshrined in national and world antidoping authorities' rules and laws. It is also thankfully very rare that a failed drugs test can have some positive implications. Antidoping laws are undoubtedly focused on ensuring fair competition, however, there are occasions when honest athletes discover medical diagnoses through failed antidoping tests. The purpose of this paper is to broadly discuss antidoping considerations encountered, based on the four principles of medical ethics and to propose simple solutions to these problems. Unfortunately, extreme medical circumstances will often test the limits of antidoping and medical processes and with open channels for feedback, these systems can improve. Performance enhancement seems an illogical concept if an athlete's medical treatment and disease are more inherently performance harming than unintended potential doping, but needs to be carefully managed to maintain fair sport.
authors.affiliation: West Ham United Football Club Training Ground, Chadwell Heath, , Essex, UK.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Weiler
authors.forename: Dylan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tombides
authors.forename: Jon
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Urwin
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Clarke
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Verroken
mesh_terms: D004300:Doping in Sports / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009373:Neoplasms, Germ Cell and Embryonal / Q000188:drug therapy; D058573:Performance-Enhancing Substances / Q000032:analysis; D012916:Soccer; D013177:Sports / Q000941:ethics*; D015813:Substance Abuse Detection / Q000379:methods*; D013736:Testicular Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy
chemical_list: D058573:Performance-Enhancing Substances
keywords: Doping; Ethics; Soccer