A quack heard around the world

In reply: I thank Hughes for his comments. The message I tried to convey in my article1 is that it is important, with a relatively new specialty such as sports medicine, to have the opportunity to work with other medical specialties, health professionals and the community to establish a multipurpose facility where transparency of effort and integration of service, training and research can occur. I understand the University of Melbourne may be hosting a forum later this year to explore this matter further. There is thus no disagreement with Hughes.

If there was a perception that sports physicians are only concerned with elite sport and thus lack ethical underpinning, I regret that implication could be drawn from my article. However, as an observer of the health scene, I address as much as I can perceive.

It is refreshing, at a time when there is such uncertainty about the acceptable limits of performance enhancement, that sports physicians should have a strong voice — and for this Hughes must be commended.