MME Scenario Collection


Different treatment depending on nationality

Report from a Canadian military doctor:

"When we received news that a mass casualty was en route with severe burns, we were told not to intubate Afghans with burns over more than 50 percent of their bodies—because in the absence of a burn unit, such a patient requiring life support rarely survives—but that we should do everything possible for coalition personnel because they would be evacuated to Germany or Dubai and then to places like Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, where the burn care is the best in the world."

Source: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2007/06/talk-me-my-father-frontline-medicine-afghanistan/

Questions for the discussion of this scenario

– Can the divergent treatment be morally justified?



Page ID: 113
Last updated: 19 Aug, 2021
Revision: 3
Military Medical Ethics Scenarios -> Limited/ scarce resources environment -> Level of care under limited resources -> Different treatment depending on nationality
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