Images of War Raise Ethical Concerns

Editorial: Images of war and medical ethics BMJ Volume 326, pp 774-5

Graphic media images of Iraqi civilian casualties raise questions about the boundaries of media ethics and, more importantly, medical ethics, according to an editorial in this week's BMJ.

Law lecturer, Jerome Singh, and television news reporter, Tania DePellegrin, believe that doctors owe patients basic duties of care that should not be suspended during times of war.

Any decision that affects a patient should be motivated by what is in the patient's best interest and should be supported explicitly by that individual. If this cannot be achieved then cameras should not be permitted into a hospital room. "Doctors who permit footage to be captured fail in their legal and ethical duty to protect their patients," they write.

Doctors should be mindful that during a war patients can be used as propaganda tools. Governments and the media should refrain from using doctors and patients to further their own agendas, they add.

Publishing or broadcasting images of prisoners of war is illegal under international law, yet the same protection is not afforded to civilian casualties of war. Addressing this shortcoming would provide explicit guidance to doctors faced with scenarios such as those being experienced by the Iraqi doctors. Ethics should not be lost in the war, they conclude.

Click here to view full paper:http://press.psprings.co.uk/bmj/april/edit774.pdf