Bioethics and armed conflict : moral dilemmas of medicine and war / Michael L. Gross.

Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, [2006], ©2006.

xv, 384 pages ; 24 cm.

Series foreword -- Preface -- 1. Setting the stage -- The role of medicine in armed conflict -- Military ethics and humanitarian law -- Contemporary biomedical ethics -- Moral dilemmas of medicine and war -- 2. The ethics of medicine and the ethics of war -- Life, dignity, and utility -- The right to life -- Autonomy and dignity -- Dignity : an absolute moral right? -- Utility : limiting harm and achieving good -- Bioethics, war, and necessity -- 3. Medical care for the wounded -- Evacuating and treating the wounded -- Why treat the wounded? -- Medical care and military necessity -- Medical care and morale -- Medical care and political obligation -- The limits of military medical care -- 4. Patient rights for soldiers -- Informed consent during armed conflict -- Confidentiality -- Battlefield euthanasia and the right to die -- Patient rights in war and peace --

5. Wartime triage -- The moral dilemmas of triage -- Triage, medical need, and military utility -- Distributing medical knowledge to the enemy -- Alternatives to triage -- Tragedy and triage : a second look -- 6. Medical neutrality -- Medical neutrality and armed conflict -- Medical neutrality and unconventional conflict -- Medical immunity in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict -- Medical impartiality in the Vietnam war -- The challenge of medical neutrality -- 7. Torture, ill-treatment, and interrogation -- The dilemma of torture -- Torture, ill-treatment, and terror -- Justifying torture and i ll-treatment -- Torture and the role of physicians -- The shame of torture -- 8. Chemical and biological warfare -- Historical overview -- The inhumanity of chemical and biological weapons -- Bioethics and unconventional deterrence -- Nonlethal chemical and biological weapons -- Weapons development and the medical community -- 9. Bioethics and the end of armed conflict -- Pacifism, peace, medicine, and war -- Vocational pacifism -- Physician-assisted draft evasion -- Medicine and pacifism : the quest for world peace -- The lure of pacifism and peace --

10. The moral dilemmas of medicine and war -- The transformation of ethics during war -- The transformation of medical ethics during war -- Armed conflict and professional obligation -- Notes -- References -- Index.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [343]-365) and index.