- MM commands a military field hospital, physically based on a semi-trailer truck convoy that follows combat troops into disputed territory as part of a United Nations (UN) peacekeeping and security mission to implement and maintain a fragile truce between local government forces and opposition forces.
- In the disputed territory, the humanitarian crisis is escalating; the number of casualties from armed conflict and the number of displaced persons from affected ethnic groups are increasing.
- When the convoy arrives and the field hospital setup is complete, MM expects large numbers of injured and ill patients to arrive and seeks resources to meet their basic needs for food, water, shelter, medicines, and other kinds of clinical intervention.
- Guards will protect the field hospital’s perimeter and determine who will be allowed to enter the hospital. MM is asked to provide guidance to these guards about admission criteria and whether patients’ ethnic or village origins will be included among those criteria.
Source: Bricknell, Martin, David Whetham, Richard Sullivan, and Peter Mahoney. 2022. How Should Access to Military Health Care Facilities Be Controlled in Conflict? AMA Journal of Ethics 24: 472–477.
Questions for the discussion of this scenario
– How should MM respond?
– What criteria should inform the admission of patients?
Page printed from MME Scenario Collection – https://scenarios.militarymedicalethics.ch
