Sunday, February 01, 2015

Alternative programming: The art of healing


Super Bowl XLIX is imminent, and the NFL is under arguably greater scrutiny than ever over many of its policies and behaviors. Some of the greatest continued focus is reserved for the league's treatment of concussions and injuries, which we covered during last year's Super Bowl. This is still a big topic, but we discovered a video in our collection that addresses it from a less-discussed angle: the ethical and moral role of the doctors who treat athletes.

Playing Hurt: Ethics and Sports Medicine (available via streaming) is a recorded hour-long panel discussion with team physicians, doctors, and other figures in the sports world as they examine the murky world in which medicine and athletics intersect. Professional sports and the NFL in particular are covered, but college and high school also receive some attention. When you hear about athletes who play on injured legs, you only ever hear about the coach's decision and not the doctor's. This is a perspective that we're missing, and you can hear it in this video.

This discussion will certainly not be settled in the next few years, and as long as there continue to be new angles to examine it – and relevant videos – we'll continue to share them.

No comments: