Medical records – Game Changers in Doping Cases MOS Medical Record Reviews
Medical records have an important role to play in various legal and medical contexts because it is the information contained therein that decides the course of a case. These healthcare documents are often required to establish the credibility of medical claims. A person’s medical documentation is needed to establish injury, particular health conditions, drug abuse, doping offence and so on. Recent news highlighted the fact that British athlete Mo Farah is to have his medical records reviewed by UK Athletics officials following the controversy surrounding Alberto Salazar, his coach, over doping allegations. The coach however, has denied all accusations made against him – that he had encouraged athletes to use illegal substances to boost performance. There is no evidence that Farah has done anything wrong. Farah himself said that he did not have any evidence that Alberto Salazar was guilty and so was not leaving him. Farah will have his medical data including blood data, supplements data, and everything surrounding his medical treatment reviewed. Salazar is an endurance consultant to UK Athletics (UKA). His former assistant Steve Magness accused him of violating anti-doping rules and encouraging doping by Galen Rupp, one of his top runners. Rupp emerged silver medalist in the 10,000 meters at the London Olympics in 2012, finishing behind Farah. Rupp however, denied any illegal behavior. The latest claim leveled against Farah is that he risked his chances of competing at London 2012 by missing two drugs tests in the buildup to the Games. The Daily Mail reported that Farah missed one drug test in the year 2010 and another in early 2011. Farah has not so far commented on the latest claims. World-Anti Doping rules hold that a third missed test within a 12-month period is as good as a failed drugs test. It would have left the athlete facing a minimum of a two-year ban. To digress a bit, mistakes made by medical doctors not sufficiently knowledgeable regarding the subtleties of doping regulations and the list of prohibited substances result in athletes ending up being punished for doping offences on the basis of doctors’ negligence. One of the most important cases of physician fault in connection with doping offences may be that of Andrea Raducan who was stripped of her gold medal after testing positive for pseudoephedrine that was contained in nurofen, a popular
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over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medicine. It was the team doctor himself who prescribed the nurofen for a headache, running nose and a feeling of congestion. Sports attorneys who represent clients before domestic as well as international courts have expertise in cases involving corruption, doping and eligibility disputes. They provide advice on all sports related disputes such as doping, selection and eligibility issues, sporting fraud, corruption and governance issues. When handling doping cases, they will obtain up-to-date copies of their clients’ medical records for purposes of review. Gas chromatography and mass spectrometry are the most common tests used to identify performance enhancing/illegal drugs. These tests are done on urine and blood samples, and specific drugs can be identified and quantified. Immuno-assay tests are performed to measure substances such as HCG, LH and ACTH in urine samples. Recently developed tests include blood tests for EPO. With the entry of new performance enhancing drugs, new tests are also being developed to detect these drugs. The results obtained are documented in the healthcare reports, and will be used as evidence in case a legal dispute arises. This is why medical records are considered as game changers in medical litigation and decide the course of a case.
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