Providing Medical Care to Further Non-medical Ends

Providing medical care to further non-medical ends involves the use of medical expertise to achieve goals that are not strictly related to promoting the health and well-being of patients. This practice raises a range of ethical concerns regarding the purpose and scope of medical care, the relationship between health and national security, and the obligations and duties of medical professionals to their patients, professional bodies and society at large. Special Forces types of operations in support of other military objectives bring about this dilemma. The well documented case of then Lieutenant Colonel (Dr) Wouter Basson, branded “Dr Death” by the media, is a classic example of this dual loyalty dilemma. The study found that the ethical issues of whether military doctors can dissociate their medical and military personas has important implications. The medical council’s provisional guilty findings against Dr. Basson seem to indicate that those elements cannot be dissociated. This decision will have a profound impact on the future of Special Forces doctors after they leave the operational environment. Application of ethics in military medical practise is complex and controversial and this leaves the practitioners exposed to possible sanctions by their statutory bodies. Perhaps there should be different kinds of ethics for Military Medics. This is by no means promoting unethical conduct.