Le médecin militaire entre impératifs militaires et exigences éthiques

Military doctors and surgeons are required to go abroad to support the French military forces during their missions. These missions could create major dilemmas between medical ethics and military obligations. The first mission of a military health service is the operational health support to militaries but it could be less difficult for a physician, military or not, remain indifferent to humanitarian and medical needs of local population. Indeed, ethically, any physician has an obligation to make the necessary to care for local populations, but this ethical obligation may be difficult to reconcile with the support of the militaries. Several statements including those of Havana and Geneva have tried to answer this question but it has actually returned the medical officer in front of his moral duty to always act in the interest of the patient without compromising support for the armed forces.