Whilst military doctors are members of the military profession, they are also members of the medical profession, and therefore have additional rights and responsibilities to other members of the armed forces. Doctors must treat patients according to medical need, rather than any other reasons. They must resist pressure from others to treat patients according to tactical or strategic needs.

While it may be difficult to accept, it is also irrelevant if the other side is respecting the rules or not – it is precisely those rules that we are fighting to uphold and it is therefore essential to avoid descending to the same moral level as those who break them.

‘The essential, and primary, moral duty is to the patient; no matter to which ethnic, religious or combat grouping they may belong. The patient’s autonomy may be compromised by the authoritarian constraints of the military but it is still beholden upon the physician to apply a firm moral code to ensure the best possible outcome for the patient.’ (Blair, 2011).

Duncan Blair, ‘To Whom Does a Military Commander Owe a Moral Duty?’, in David Whetham (ed.), Ethics, Law and Military Operations, (Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, 2011), p202

David Whetham, ‘Killing Within the Rules’, Small Wars and Insurgencies, issue 18/4 December 2007, pp.721-733.