Battlefield conditions: Different environment but the same duty of care

Using an interpretative research approach to ethical and legal literature, it is argued that nursing in the battlefield is distinctly different to civilian nursing, even in an emergency, and that the environment is so different that a duty of care owed by military nurses to wounded soldiers should n...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Kelly, Janet (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Sage 2010
In: Nursing ethics
Year: 2010, Volume: 17, Issue: 5, Pages: 636-645
Further subjects:B duty of care
B obligations to care
B battlefield
B military nurses
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:Using an interpretative research approach to ethical and legal literature, it is argued that nursing in the battlefield is distinctly different to civilian nursing, even in an emergency, and that the environment is so different that a duty of care owed by military nurses to wounded soldiers should not apply. Such distinct differences in wartime can override normal peacetime professional ethics to the extent that the duty of care owed by military nurses to their patients on the battlefield should not exist. It is also argued that as military nurses have legal and professional obligations to care for wounded soldiers on the battlefield, this obligation conflicts with following military orders, causing a dual loyalty conflict. This is because soldiers are part of the ‘fighting force’ and must be fit to fight and win the battle. This makes them more of a commodity rather than individual persons with distinct health care needs.
ISSN:1477-0989
Contains:Enthalten in: Nursing ethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1177/0969733010373434