More On: Doctors Going to War

Very appropriate to our recent discussions of the ethical conflict which appears to be present when a physician becomes a military physician (see postings December 23, 2004 and January 8, 2005) is the book review (New England Journal of Medicine, January 20, 2005 page 312) of Military Medical Ethics published by the Office of the Surgeon General, Dept of the Army and Borden Institute,2003..
The review written by Michael Grodin, M.D. and George J. Annas, J.D. starts out with "A military physician at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq is asked to treat wounds caused by prisoner abuse; a soldier is ordered by a military physician to receive an investigational vaccine; a military physician is ordered to treat a wounded soldier who can return to combat quickly before treating others; a military psychiatrist is asked to order a psychologically traumatized soldier to return to combat..." which effectively sets the tone of what the rest of the 2 1/4 page, rather comprehensive, review is about. The 2 volume textbook apparently actually allows an opposing viewpoint. The review is well written and is itself worth reading and certainly stimulates one to read the books themselves. ..Maurice.