Medicine as an incentive or reward for cooperation?

As conflicts become smaller and more dependent on special operation units it, there are more requests for "humanitarian" medical care. This care is usually for non-combatants and often for family members of "high value contact", people with intelligence information deemed useful to the combatant commander.

With increasing frequency, medical personnel are accompanying special operation troops on their missions and will come in contact with both the person with the medical need and the person with the intelligence information.

The medical provider has met the potential patient and agrees the medical treatment is reasonable; let's say for simplicity a child with a cleft lip that can be repaired with little risk to the child and no long term follow up required. The family member with the intelligence information refuses to cooperate, refuses to assist the special operation forces.

• Can the medical provider withhold care?

The same child is brought into the medical treatment facility except he has a cleft lip and cleft palate, a more complicated procedure and one that usually requires long term follow up. The surgeon "probably" can do the surgery but is very inexperienced and clearly the child's long term outcome would be better if the surgery was done by an experienced surgeon. The special operation soldiers want the surgery done ASAP so as not to lose valuable information, information which may save lives.

There is no guarantee that the child will ever see another surgeon, but no one has explored that possibility.

• Is it ethical to knowingly provide substandard care?