Bioethics and Armed Conflict: Moral Dilemmas of Medicine and War

In a world where new and reawakened armed conflicts seem to appear every day, doctors need to be clear about their role in a war situation and about the arguments they should consider when asked to perform specific tasks.

The lessons drawn from war may also be relevant to those working in peacetime: for example, the many decades of experience the military have in using triage is now being cited as useful in dealing with the potential global catastrophe of pandemic flu.

In his book, Gross considers the ethics of …