Medical Neutrality as a Political Stance Against Status Quo

“(Volunteer doctors in Turkey) found themselves appealing to "neutrality on the side of victims". In addition to having a history of responding to the earthquake in 1999 in the absence of state response, of documenting human rights abuses after the 1980 coup and casualties during protests, and of actively protesting the use of tear gas during the Gezi protests, health workers have done precisely what medical ethics dictates. They insisted on their neutrality as their government accused them of ‘terrorism,’ of explicitly undermining the state’s monopoly on legitimate violence. Moreover, when doctors invoked neutrality while also aiding wounded protesters, they thereby moved to hinder the consolidation of state authority. The treatment of an injured police officer by doctors volunteering at the Gezi infirmaries became the symbol of their professional responsiveness to humanistic demands, and their willingness to treat everyone, whatever their role in the protests.”

“Egyptian physicians’ appeals to medical neutrality served as a potent political stance that shamed the government for its failure to treat wounded dissident protesters. After Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s removal from power, there were several clashes involving the interim military regime and civilians. During the clashes that took place in November 2011, which became known locally as “the events of Muhammad Mahmoud Street,” riot police intentionally targeted field hospitals and first-relief stations erected in the side streets. They beat—and in some cases, detained—the volunteer doctors in military detention centers. During a press conference organized by the Egyptian Medical Syndicate in December 2011, one physician testified that he defied the police officer’s orders to “stop treating thugs.” The physician responded to the policeman: “It is my duty as a physician to treat the wounded, whoever the wounded is. And if you were sick, I would treat you, too.” The policeman replied, “It is my decision who you treat, you son of a dog!”

"The health worker’s claim to impartiality may itself be a stance against the state’s insistence that it is the sole arbiter of who can live and who can die. The local health worker’s claim to an international norm, in other words, may be understood as a direct challenge to the state’s claim to sovereignty.”

Adia Benton. “Even War has Rules”: On Medical Neutrality and Legitimate Non-violence. Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry. June 2016, Volume 40, Issue 2, pp 151–158 [cited 2019 Sep 21]. Available from: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11013-016-9491-x.