ABSTRACT

This book examines the issue of ethics in the context of the provision of military health care in an epidemic.

Outbreaks of epidemics like Ebola trigger difficult ethical challenges for civilian and military health care personnel. This book offers theoretical reflections combined with reports from recent military and NGO missions in the field. The authors of this volume focus on military medical ethics adding a distinct voice to the topic of epidemics and infectious diseases. While military health care personnel are always crucially involved during disaster relief operations and large-scale public health emergencies, most of the current literature treats ethical issues during epidemics from a more general perspective without taking into account the specifics of the military context. The contributions in this volume provide first-hand insights into some of the ethical issues encountered by military health care personnel in missions during the Ebola outbreak in 2014/2015. This practical perspective is complimented by academic analyses and theoretical reflections on ethical issues associated with epidemics.

This book will be of much interest to students of military studies, ethics and African politics.

chapter 1|19 pages

Preparing for Operation GRITROCK

Military medical ethics challenges encountered in the planning stages of the UK Ebola response mission

chapter 2|14 pages

The Ebola response team deployment in the Republic of Guinea

Organizational, ethical, legal issues and a problem of responsibility

chapter 3|8 pages

Between ignorance, misperception and dilemma

Taking an ethical, epidemiological, and strategic look at crisis management during the 2014–15 Ebola outbreak in Liberia

chapter 4|11 pages

The Canadian Armed Forces and their role in the Canadian response to the Ebola epidemic

Ethical and moral issues that guided policy decisions

chapter 5|21 pages

“If you let it get to you …”

Moral distress, ego-depletion, and mental health among military health care providers in deployed service

chapter 6|20 pages

Reaching out to Ebola victims

Coercion, persuasion or an appeal for self-sacrifice? 1

chapter 7|20 pages

A history of quarantine

The continued controversy over its legitimacy

chapter 8|12 pages

Ebola response and mandatory quarantine in the US military

An ethical analysis of the DoD “controlled monitoring” policy