The Role of Bioethics in Targeted Violent Attacks on Healthcare Providers and Healthcare Facilities

There are many ways with which to segregate or sort national healthcare access in an international context. However, regardless of a country’s GDP, demand for healthcare far exceeds the supply of healthcare providers. A concerning phenomenon that additionally accompanies this access gap is one that inevitably worsens the gap itself. Violence targeting healthcare providers and centers, is on the rise as depicted by the World Health Organization and other organizations. Resulting damages further reduce access to care with one example being in Borno, a north-eastern Nigerian state, where prior to 2018 over 40% of the centers were forced to close secondary to this violence, resulting in a loss of healthcare access for over 50,000 individuals. Following a joint initiative by the Ministry of Health and WHO, to incorporate early community involvement in both care and the establishment of healthcare centers, the community has seen a reduction in violence and renewed civilian resolve to protect their healthcare providers and facilities. The key elements of the initiative incorporate aspects of bioethics, as individual and community ownership fosters not only stronger patient-physician relationships, but additionally solidifies community-healthcare system relationships. The purpose of this systematic review and seminar series is to compare the studies currently addressing attacks on healthcare, to develop a baseline from which solutions can be developed to address the root causes identified in this review. The goal is to incorporate additional ethics training and awareness of patient involvement at multiple stages in medical education, thereby addressing a primary component to the patient-physician, and ultimately community-healthcare system relationships.

Kiana Winslow – Harvard Medical School; Madeleine Carroll, MD – Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA and Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT USA; Kennedy Jensen, MD – Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth Hanover, NH and University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT; Leslie Ann McNolty, DPS MA – Bioethics, University of Missouri - Kansas City School of Medicine; Bhawna Sharma, MA MSW – Indian Council for Medical Research - Andaman & Nicobar Islands, India; Ashish Bosco, MD - St. Johns Medical College and Hospital, Bangalore, Karnataka, India; Bhawna Sharma, MA MSW – Indian Council for Medical Research - Andaman & Nicobar Islands, India; Craig McClain, MD, – Associate Professor of Anaesthesia, Department of Anesthesia, Boston Children's Hospital; Geoffrey A. Anderson, MD MPH – Surgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA and US Air Force Reserves, 439th Aeromedical Staging Squadron, Westover Air Reserve Base, MA, USA