ABSTRACT
The treatment of war wounds is as ancient as warfare itself. While almost every conflict has served to increase the knowledge of the treatment of war injuries, and many individuals have played significant parts in the development of war surgery, Dominque Jean Larrey is considered by many to be the first modern military surgeon. International Humanitarian Law (IHL) regulates humanitarian issues during armed conflict. IHL provides medical personnel with rights in times of armed war, but also assigns duties to them surrounding the rights of protected personnel under their care. Medical evacuation refers to the movement and en route car of casualties within a conflict zone. The evacuation may be the initial movement from a battlefield or between other more sophisticated echelons of care, up to and including repatriation to a home nation. The concepts of Damage Control Surgery were initially applied to complex trauma patients with combined vascular and visceral injuries.
