Ethical Concerns for Physicians Deployed to Operation Desert Storm

Abstract

A survey of 600 Army and Navy physicians deployed to the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Storm was conducted to ascertain their concerns pertaining to the ethics of combat medicine and note any similarities with common ethical concerns in the peacetime practice of medicine. Despite expressed familiarity with the Geneva Convention of 1949 outlining care of enemy wounded and civilian populations, many stated that these guidelines did not apply to their practice experience. Thirty-three percent disagreed with medical need as the sole determinant for care in triage, and 22% stated that enemy prisoners of war should receive care only after allied forces had been treated. Other concerns about the ethical practice of medicine during and after war were raised to include access to care, balancing goods and harms, resource allocation, and the definition of medical futility.