What is the Responsibility of Healthcare Workers?

Abstract

Plain language abstract The over-a-yearlong Israeli assault on Gaza after the October 7 Hamas attack has left the Gaza Strip in ruins, with destruction of much of the health care, educational, housing, sanitation, and agricultural systems. 2.3 million people face extreme hunger, displacement, infectious diseases, and massive amounts of physical and mental stress and trauma. Women, children, and the disabled have been disproportionately affected. What is the responsibility of healthcare workers in the face of a horrifying live-streamed genocide? The ongoing silence of the medical profession presents a severe challenge to the ethical principles of the healing professions. Formal abstract The Israeli assault on Gaza after the October 7 Hamas attack has left the Gaza Strip in ruins, with destruction of much of the health care, educational, sanitation, housing, and agricultural infrastructure, and massive amounts of displacement, injury, and death. 2.3 million people face extreme hunger, infectious diseases, and life-threatening levels of physical and mental stress and trauma. Women, children, and the newly and chronically disabled have been disproportionately affected. This war occurs in the context of over a hundred years of settler colonialism in the region, the genocidal intent expressed by Israeli leaders, and years of Palestinian resistance. The silence of the medical profession in the face of this live-streamed genocide presents a severe challenge to medical ethics, with health care students and workers who criticize Israeli policies facing pushback, job loss, and accusations of antisemitism. Silence in the face of war crimes only enables the medical

Keywords: Gaza, public health, trauma, medical ethics, healthcare workers

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Rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Alice Rothchild