| abstract |
Medicine in the military is practiced in a variety of contexts, with a variety of patients, all of which necessitates an understanding of the ethics of patient healthcare in a diverse world. Just as there are a variety of patients, there also a variety of healthcare providers. Nurses, chaplains, and physicians are all part of the healthcare team.
For the medical ethics piece, I will explore the ideal patient-physician relationship, the varying ethical theories that describes how a physician views a relationship, as well as how that relationship functions in the clinical encounter.
For the military ethics side, I will explore the tension between the two professions and those that have a role in both. Military medicine is a combination of the profession of medicine and the profession of arms. I will present a variety of views of the military medical profession.
Medicine in the military is influenced by society, its ethics, customs and laws. This societal influence is most apparent as it relates to medicine in the military and the care of its beneficiaries.
The arenas of military medical ethics include clinical, operational, organizational and research. Medical ethics must be a positive goal for the entire organization, top-to-bottom, and start-to-finish.
The study of military medical ethics is inherently controversial and troubling. For instance, rarely does the issue of national security play a role in the day-to-day medical decisions in a civilian setting. Military medical ethics has many similarities to civilian medical ethics, however, when it involves deployment or combat, it precludes it from being identical in civilian medical ethics.
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