Fight Doc weighs in on Hamills staph

http://mmajunkie.com/news/19621/ask-the-fight-doc-should-matt-hamill-have-been-medically-cleared-despite-staph.mma

Aside from Court McGee being crowned "The Ultimate Fighter 11" champion, the biggest news coming out of this past weekend's UFC event was Matt Hamill's clearance to fight despite an active Staph infection.

Hamill appeared at The Ultimate Fighter 11 Finale weigh-ins on Friday with a noticeable lesion on his lower back, and following his win over Keith Jardine on Saturday, he and Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director Keith Kizer confirmed the infection.

In his latest "Ask the Fight Doc" installment, MMAjunkie.com medical columnist Dr. Johnny Benjamin wonders how that was possible and why so many others were unnecessarily put at risk.




In my opinion, the NSAC was victim of a poor medical decision. Furthermore, every athlete (including Hamill) and referee that entered the octagon – with or after Hamill – was unnecessarily exposed to a potentially very serious and deadly infection by the "licensed doctor" who cleared him to compete.

well at least it was the co-main event and not the first fight on the main card.

Seems extremely reckless to have allowed Hamill to fight.

This just backs up what I was saying in the other thread. I wasn't going to outright claim it was completely irresponsible based on the fact that I'm not an MD, but I wanted to say it was. Although in general medical opinions can vary I'm going to go on record saying that if a doctor who seems as logical as the fight doc does comes out and says it was then I'm on board. Especially since he recommended the UFC get 6 different MD's to weigh in and see what they say.

Besides, he's right to quote the hippocratic oath when he says "First, do no harm" which is something anybody with any medical training should know like the back of their hand. (BTW- skip the semantics on the hippocratic oath and the origin of this saying) Honestly this doc could have his license to practice stripped from him based off this one decision alone. Since he clearly put others in harm's way while knowing full well the risks.