Military Humanitarian Civic Assistance Programs: Can the provision of care ever be wrong?

Abstract

Military humanitarian civic assistance programs are short-duration medical missions during which military healthcare providers provide medical treatment and assistance to a civilian population. Created to provide medical care to populations in need, these programs have also been utilized as a tool to support broader geopolitical and military aims. The inherent structure of these programs can exacerbate or create situational vulnerabilities in the patient population. Further, this structure may challenge the ability of military healthcare to adhere to the four guiding principles of biomedical ethics: respect for autonomy, nonmaleficence, beneficence, and justice. In examining these programs through a biomedical ethical lens, it is believed that many of the challenges present in these programs can be mitigated through enhancements to pre-deployment training and education for healthcare providers in vulnerability and biomedical ethics, greater partnerships with local healthcare providers, and a re-examination of program-specific policies and doctrine within senior government and the military.