Medical ethicist Art Caplan joined Boston Public Radio for his weekly segment "Ask the Ethicist." Caplan looked at the future of boxing as interest wanes and the action remains just as brutal. He also talked about using head protection in sports, an injection to get rid of double chins, and Dr. Sanjay Gupta's operation on an 8-year-old earthquake victim in Nepal.
Questions below are paraphrased, and Caplan's responses are edited where noted [...].
The family of boxer Magomed Abdusalamov has announced its intention to sue the New York State Athletic Commission. Abdusalamov had to have emergency brain surgery after a Madison Square Garden fight last November. What do you make of this?
This is a Russian heavyweight who [...] really made a big impact in the division, won a lot of bouts, but he has suffered horrible brain damage. [...] He's now bed-bound, he can't take care of himself. He's a classic victim of boxing.
Boxing is basically morally indefensible. There's just too much damage.
Just another bad boxing story? The breaks of the game?
Boxing is basically morally indefensible, because there's just too much damage.
Why do they have ringside doctors if they can't prevent serious injuries like this?
Look, the doctor's [only] there partly to make sure that cuts aren't too severe, that boxers stop if they're really bleeding badly. They're also there to make some determination [whether they can continue].
Boxing isn't nearly as popular as it used to be. Considering our awareness about head trauma, does it seem like the sport is doomed?
Mixed martial arts is picking up where boxing was. But I think a lot of folks are saying, 'too brutal.'
Football is facing similar blowback now that we understand the long-term effects of all those hits.
It's getting pretty close [to] boxing levels of harm.
Even with all the improvements to the game.
[With] helmet-to-helmet the quarterback's gotten more protected. [...] Still, it's a high-contact game. It's hard to get all of the head-hits out of the game. [...] It's also a sport that's become heavily made up of athletes that are coming from poor backgrounds. So it's gladiators who are beating each other up for the entertainment of the rich.
San Diego Padres pitcher Alex Torres has started using a protective cap while pitching. Think we might see more of that in baseball?
Baseball has a concussion problem — from beanings to balls that are hit back at the pitcher that are too fast to duck. [...] They look funny, they look odd. [...] My view is, let's promote safety.
If a pro player wears it, kids will follow suit.
We'll get used to it, and pretty soon it'll get cool and every kid will want one. [...] When I was growing up [hockey] goalies didn't wear masks. [...] Now it's super-cool to wear a hockey mask, and a goalie's mask.
The danger in sending Sanjay Gupta to Nepal is that he may have gone there with 400 blunts.
There's been an uproar over the fact that Dr. Sanjay Gupta operated on an eight-year-old earthquake victim while he was in Nepal. Gupta was there in his capacity as a journalist for CNN, and his crew filmed the surgery. Was this ethical for him to do?
Is he up-to-date? [...] Is he in there frequently enough to keep his skills sharp? So Sanjay, in between his marijuana festival there, is he doing enough operations? [...]
You're saying as a journalist his medical training may suffer?
Stay in the role. You're not there as a doctor. [...] If you want to go as a journalist then do that, but don't let the roles cross.
When would it make sense for a doctor to intervene?
If you're a doctor and someone has a heart attack, [...] I think you have to put your journalist hat down and help. [Problems occur] when you use a medical intervention to turn in your favor in terms of marketing.
Should other doctors have stepped in? His network?
I think you could step in, and I think you should step in. I think your doctor duty comes before [journalism].
Was this patient in real danger?
The danger in sending him to Nepal is that he may have gone there with 400 blunts or something.
Kybella is a new drug that patients can inject that claims to rid them of the dreaded "double-chin." Is this a medical breakthrough for the ages?
Do I care? I guess so. I don't know.
But it has to be happy news for some people.
The happy news about procedures like this is that they're expensive. They will be obtained by the rich first [and we'll see how they work].
And we'll find out if it's really a miracle drug.
I don't even care. There are other body parts I'm more interested in.
>> Art Caplan is the head of the division of medical ethics at New York University's Langone Medical Center, and cohost of the Everyday Ethics podcast.
