Bioethical Dilemmas in Conflict Zones: An Ethicist's Perspective Based on Lessons Learned from Gaza

Health care practitioners practicing in conflict zones, more often than not, face ethical conundrums that are more urgent and extreme than those faced by their colleagues working in regular medical settings. Indeed, field physicians can attest to the fact that, oftentimes, medical ethics in war time is quite different, and that indeed they ought to be different. This strain is sensed only by those who have witnessed wars and practiced health care in times of conflict. Undeniably, physicians might recourse to what I call contrived medical ethics, which allows their medicine as well as moral compass to remain viable and moral. In this article, the challenges and dilemmas surrounding dialysis and renal transplants in war zones, particularly in the Middle East using Gaza as a model, are discussed.