Description
Beleaguered countries struggling against aggression or powerful nations defending others from brutal regimes mobilize medicine to wage just war. As states funnel medical resources to maintain unit readiness and conserve military capabilities, numerous ethical challenges foreign to peacetime medicine result. Force conservation drives combat hospitals to prioritize warfighter care over all others. Civilians find themselves bereft of medical attention; prison officials force feed hunger-striking detainees; policymakers manage healthcare to win the hearts and minds of local nationals; and scientists develop neuro-technologies or nanosurgery to create super soldiers.When the fighting ends, intractable moral dilemmas rebound. Post-war justice demands enormous investments of time, resources and personnel. But losing interest and no longer zealous, war-weary nations forget their duties to rebuild ravaged countries abroad and rehabilitate their war-torn veterans at home.Addressing these incendiary issues, Military Medical Ethics in Contemporary Armed Conflict integrates the ethics of medicine and the ethics of war. Medical ethics in times of war is not identical to medical ethics in times of peace, but a unique discipline. Without war, there is no military medicine, and without just war there is no military medical ethics. Military Medical Ethics in Contemporary Armed Conflict revises, defends, and rebuts wartime medical practices, just as it lays the moral foundation for casualty care in future conflicts.
Table of Contents
IntroductionPart I: THEORY: Military Medical Ethics and Just WarChapter 1: The Principles of Military Medical EthicsChapter 2: Patient Rights and Practitioner DutiesChapter 3: Moral Reasoning in Military Medical EthicsPart II: ON THE BATTLEFIELD: Caring for the Wounded of WarChapter 4: Military Medicine in Contemporary Armed Conflict: Iraq and Afghanistan RevisitedChapter 5: Combat Casualty CareChapter 6: Detainees and Prisoners of WarChapter 7: Care and Compensation for Civilian Victims of WarPart III: OFF THE BATTLEFIELD: Medicine as Weapon of WarChapter 8: Military Medical Research and ExperimentationChapter 9: Warfighter Enhancement: Research and TechnologyChapter 10: Medical Diplomacy and the Battle for Hearts and MindsPart IV: AFTERWAR: Post-War Justice and the Responsibility to RebuildChapter 11: Post-War Health ReconstructionChapter 12: Veteran HealthcareConclusion: Military Medical Ethics and Just War: The 21st Century
