Perilous medicine : the struggle to protect health care from the violence of war / Leonard Rubenstein.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rubenstein, Leonard S., author.

Contributor:

Rosengarten Family Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

War--Medical aspects.

War.

War--Protection of civilians.

Civilian war casualties.

Physical Description:

xvi, 392 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Columbia University Press, [2021]

Summary:

"Pervasive violence against hospitals, patients, doctors, and other health workers has become a horrifically common feature of modern war. These relentless attacks destroy lives and the capacity of health systems to tend to those in need. Inaction to stop this violence undermines long-standing values and laws designed to ensure that sick and wounded people receive care. Leonard Rubenstein-a human rights lawyer who has investigated atrocities against health workers around the world-offers a gripping and powerful account of the dangers health workers face during conflict and the legal, political, and moral struggle to protect them. He shares the stories of people who have been attacked while seeking to serve patients under dire circumstances: health workers in the forests of eastern Myanmar seeking to serve oppressed ethnic communities; surgeons in Syria operating as their hospitals are bombed; emergency responders in Gaza attempting to avoid gunfire as they rescue the wounded; and many others. Rubenstein reveals why violence against health care takes place with impunity, detailing how political and military leaders evade their obligations, improperly portray violence as legitimate, and fail to hold perpetrators to account. Bringing together extensive research, firsthand experience, and compelling personal stories, Perilous Medicine also offers a path forward, detailing the lessons the international community needs to learn to protect people already suffering in war and those on the front lines of health care in conflict-ridden places around the world"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: 1. Protection Of Health Care In War: A Brief History

Francis Lieber: Military Necessity and the Limits of Protection

Henri Dunant and the Principle of Humanity

Twentieth-Century Cataclysms and the Strengthening of Protection

Dignity and Rights: The Triumph of Dunant?

2. Denying Care To Enemies

The Bandit Doctor: Chechnya

The Perils of Impartial Hospitals: Afghanistan

Enemy Communities: Myanmar

3. Counterterrorism: The Devouring Monster

Enemy of the State: Turkey

From Persecution to Prosecution: Kosovo

Counterterrorism Law and the Denial of Humanity

4. Health Care As A Strategic Target: Syria

Syrian Spring

Hospitals in Gunsights

Global Paralysis

5. Recklessness: The Saudi Assault on Yemen

Bin Salman's War

Enablers

6. Obstruction: The Israel-Palestine Conflict

Intifada: Don't Shoot the Ambulance

Checkpoints: The Recurring Nightmare

Gaza: Violence Against Ambulances Redux

7. Armed Groups: Threats and Violence / Nonstate Actors

Generalized Violence Against Civilians: Liberia

Political Objectives and the Possibility of Restraints: The Taliban in Afghanistan

Strategies to End Identity-Based Violence: Central African Republic

Health Care in a Caliphate: ISIS in Iraq and Syria

Violence and the Failure of Governance: Democratic Republic of the Congo

8. Challenges In Making Norms Matter

The New Normal?

The Logics of Violence Against Health Care

Norms at Risk

Protection and an End to Impunity.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Rosengarten Family Fund.

Other Format:

Online version: Rubenstein, Leonard S. Perilous medicine

ISBN:

9780231192460

0231192460

OCLC:

1226175504