The medical rules of engagement

[unhappycamper]

Sgt. Dontre Robinson, Spc. Christopher Pay, Sgt. 1st Class James Toone and Sgt. George Alonzo, from the left, all combat medics for 1-35 Armor, carry Mariam, a seven month old Iraqi child, to a Blackhawk for evacuation to a hospital at Balad Air Base on Sunday from Jisr Diyala, Iraq.


The medical rules of engagement
By John Vandiver, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Tuesday, May 20, 2008

JISR DIYALA, Iraq — Puss oozes from the gaping hole drilled behind her right ear.

A tube intended to drain excess fluid around the brain protrudes into a ridge that runs down the side of the skull to her abdomen. The scarred and malnourished 7-month-old looks like the victim of a back alley surgical hack job.

Marian, who comes from a village south of Baghdad, is running out of time.

~snip~

For Army doctors, who spend a portion of their time doing medical outreach, such cases are agonizing. Oduwa, a doctor serving with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, knows what this child needs. He just doesn’t know whether he can deliver it.

To send an Iraqi to a U.S. military hospital, rules of eligibility dictate that life, limb or eyesight must be at immediate risk of being lost. But determining immediate danger isn’t an exact science. There are gray areas, and it’s not yet clear if Marian meets the standard.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=54941