Ethics of Military Medical Innovation, Experimentation, and Enhancement

Find more information and download the program at https://melac.ch/courses-workshops/ethics-workshop/2018-lilienberg?lang=en

The ICMM Centre of Reference for Education on IHL and Ethics, the Medical Services Directorate of the Swiss Armed Forces, and the Center for Military Medical Ethics at Zurich University are pleased to announce the 8th annual ICMM workshop on Military Medical Ethics.

Ethics of Military Medical Innovation, Experimentation, and Enhancement
3-5 May 2018 at Forum Lilienberg in Ermatingen (CH).

Innovation by using new medical methods and experimentation with unapproved drugs occur in military or humanitarian contexts for different reasons: one may be to cope with scarce resources when the usual means are just not available; another rationale can be to gain advantages by adopting the latest methods or drugs available.

Historically, military medicine has generated a number of novel treatments which have gone on to be widely used in civil medicine. Recently, the possibility of medical enhancement to make soldiers more capable of surviving during conflict and defeating their enemies has emerged, with both positive expectations and ethically questionable implications. The development of new therapeutic approaches in a military environment and the use of medical enhancement raise important ethical questions related to human experiments in medicine.

Among the ethical issues in the areas of military medical innovation, experimentation, and enhancement is that of informed consent, which is even more acute in the military and humanitarian contexts, where possible subjects of research may either be perceived to be not fully autonomous (soldiers) or where they are part of a vulnerable population (in disaster relief or other humanitarian emergencies).