Physicians' legal responsibilities in managing ski trauma

Orthopaedic specialists and family physicians practicing in skiing communities are faced with unavoidable, stringent, and expanding legal responsibilities to properly manage ski trauma. Their legal obligations apply to each component of clinical case management: (1) diagnosis; (2) treatment; and (3) rehabilitation. Neither medically nor legally is any one aspect less critical than another. Concomitant with accelerating rates of participation in sports. It is clear that the law is demanding more from specialists and also primary care physicians whose practice is increasingly involving musculoskeletal athletic injuries. The legal responsibilities and liabilities of both generalists and specialists are extensively reviewed in this report. The principles apply to the management of all athletic trauma by physicians.