Public Health Law Map - Beta 5 - Medical and Public Health Law Site

their duties before accepting a position. For example, some jurisdictions have
specific arrangements in the jail health system or with the county hospital system to
take blood samples and other specimens from criminal suspects. Physicians
accepting a position in prison health should know whether they will be called upon to
obtain such biologic evidence and to provide court-ordered medical testing and
involuntary treatment.
Independent contractor physicians do not enjoy governmental immunity from suit in
the way that governmental employee prison officials do. Such physicians should be
particularly careful not to compromise their professional standards when caring for
prisoners. Care that would be protected from suit if performed by an employee of the
prison system may be actionable if performed by an independent physician. Contract
physicians should also ask the prison authorities to indemnify them for legal
expenses and lost time if they are named as parties in civil rights litigation against the
prison medical care system. Such actions may not be covered by medical malpractice
insurance. Without such an agreement, a private physician may have to spend tens of
thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours of uncompensated time defending actions
taken on behalf of the prison.
B. The Team Doctor
Sports medicine was once the province of a few physicians serving professional sports
teams. It has spread as a specialty through the professionalization of college and high
school athletics and through the popularization of high- performance athletics for
personal fitness. The sports medicine physician must balance the issues of long-term
health with short-term performance. This compromise is not new to sports medicine,
but it has become controversial as questionable practices such as the use of steroids,
local anesthetics, and various forms of doping have come to the attention of the public.
Sports medicine poses substantial legal problems, particularly when it is practiced on
children.
The team physician has a more ambiguous role than the sports medicine physician who
treats individual athletes but has no involvement with organized sports teams. The
team physician’s job has become more difficult as the notion of amateur athletics has
been displaced by professionalism in all but name. College football is run as a farm
club for professional teams. In large high schools, the coach who in the past might
have been an ex-football player and taught in the school system has been replaced by
highly specialized coaching staffs with trainers and big budgets. The responsibilities of
the team doctor have changed from being available to treat injuries at the weekly game
to an ongoing responsibility for the development and care of the athletes. These
coaches train their players for professional-style play and expect team physicians to
minister to them as if they were professional athletes. This situation creates a conflict
of interest for the physician when the athletes are legally and physiologically children.
1. The Physician–Player Relationship
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