Abstract
Occasionally in the military, operational situations arise where it is necessary to consider giving to military personnel not-yet-approved medications for operational reasons, rather than clinical or therapeutic reasons. These operational situations are challenging for the medical personnel on the ground (who may be isolated and not able to consult with an ethicist) and the Human Research Ethics Committees/Research Ethics Committees/Institutional Review Boards who oversee the approval and use of these medications. This chapter draws upon generally accepted bioethical principles, the Siracusa principles and the concept of supreme emergency to create a framework to assist medical practitioners and ethics committees in making informed consistent decisions in order to balance operational needs and risks to military personnel. Two cases are examined to test the framework approach and a flowchart to assist with decision making is provided in an Appendix
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
AAICJ (American Association for the International Commission of Jurists). 1985. Siracusa principles: On the limitation and derogation provisions in the international covenant on civil and political rights. New York: UN. Available at http://www.urban-response.org/resource/23796.
Arteaga-Henríquez, G., M.S. Simon, B. Burger, E. Weidinger, A. Wijkhuijs, V. Arolt, T.K. Birkenhager, R. Musil, N. Müller, and H.A. Drexhage. 2019. Low-grade inflammation as a predictor of antidepressant and anti-inflammatory therapy response in MDD patients: A systematic review of the literature in combination with an analysis of experimental data collected in the EU-MOODINFLAME consortium. Frontiers in Psychiatry 10: 458. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00458.
Beauchamp, Tom, and James Childress. 1979. Principles of biomedical ethics. New York: Oxford University Press.
Centers for Disease Control. 2015. Legal authorities for isolation and quarantine. Atlanta: CDC. Available at http://www.urban-response.org/resource/23801.
Coleman, Stephen. 2013. Military ethics: An introduction with case studies. New York: Oxford University Press.
———. 2015. Even dirtier hands in war: Considering Walzer’s supreme emergency argument. Research in Ethical Issues in Organizations 13: 61–73.
Friedman, M.J., M.J. Friedman, C.R. Marmar, C.R. Marmar, D.G. Baker, C.R. Sikes, G.M. Farfel, et al. 2007. Randomized, double-blind comparison of sertraline and placebo for posttraumatic stress disorder in a department of veterans affairs setting. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 68 (5): 711–720.
Gupta, Arun. 2019. H1N1 outbreak on a warship: Ethics of vaccination, to give or not to. Revue internationale des services de santé des forces armées: Organe du Comité international de médecine et de pharmacie militaires = International review of the armed forces medical services: Organ of the international committee of military medicine and pharmacy. International Review of the Armed Forces Medical Services 92 (1): 20–24.
Orend, Brian. 2006. The morality of war. Peterborough: Broadview Press.
United Nations. 1984. Siracusa principles on the limitation and derogation of provisions in the international covenant on civil and political rights annex, UN Doc E/CN.4/1984/4 ().
Varker, T., L. Watson, K. Gibson, D. Forbes, and M.L. O’Donnell. 2021. Efficacy of psychoactive drugs for the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder: A systematic review of MDMA, ketamine, LSD and psilocybin. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs 53: 1.
Veterans Affairs. Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses. 2005. December 2005 meeting minutes. p. 73. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Walzer, Michael. 1977. Just and unjust wars: A moral argument with historical illustrations. New York: Basic Books.
WHO (World Health Organization). 2005.1 [2008 ed.] International health regulations. Geneva: WHO. Available at http://www.urban-response.org/resource/23797
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Appendix A: Coleman Supreme Emergency in Military Medical Settings Framework Flowchart
Appendix A: Coleman Supreme Emergency in Military Medical Settings Framework Flowchart
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Coleman, N. (2022). When to Suspend Bioethical Principles in Military Medicine for Operational Purposes: A Framework Approach. In: Messelken, D., Winkler, D. (eds) Health Care in Contexts of Risk, Uncertainty, and Hybridity. Military and Humanitarian Health Ethics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-80443-5_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-80443-5_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-80442-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-80443-5
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)