War, politics, and medicine
BMJ 2007; 335 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/sbmj.0707288 (Published 01 July 2007) Cite this as: BMJ 2007;335:0707288
- H Raza Ali, foundation year 2 doctor in anaesthetics1
- 1University Hospital of Wales
In May this year bombs ravaged familiar territories in the Middle East-yet again. The international community is naturally concerned although by no means unanimous in its condemnation, polite toleration, or approval, as the case may be. Innocent citizens often die, and the number of deaths is reported occasionally by the media. Inevitably there will be arguments about this number, which affects political and public opinion profoundly.
Photomontage “photo-op by cat pictonphillips and peter kennard
Doctors and deaths
Counting the number of deaths as a result of war is not a task charged to any particular agency. And should such an agency exist it would be more prone to bias than might be acceptable. Who, then, might most reliably count the dead? Doctors measure mortality and are concerned about the factors that determine it. War is just such a factor. It's only natural then that doctors measure mortality as a result of conflict.
Many published studies and articles have analysed every conceivable effect of war or tyranny on the health of a population-try typing “war” into PubMed. One study in the Lancet about the war in Iraq attracted attention.1 In this study doctors tried to estimate the number of civilian deaths since the beginning of hostilities in Iraq. Other studies have analysed the effects …
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