Patient rights and practitioner duties are a central theme of medical ethics. Patient rights are claim rights, that is, a right to healthcare that nations must provide, and the right to informed consent, privacy, and confidentiality that practitioners are duty-bound to fulfill. Practitioner duties are professional obligations to serve their patients’ welfare, deliver healthcare impartially, and respect patient rights. Very little about these rights and duties remain controversial in medical ethics. Dilemmas and questions arise when rights and/or duties conflict with one another. Euthanasia, for example, pits patient self-determination against the duty to preserve life. Similar end-of-life and beginning-of-life issues have dominated medical law and ethics for more than 50 years.

In military medical ethics, however, the substance of patient rights remains contentious. In general, military medical medicine acknowledges that mission requirements restrict the scope of a service member’s right to refuse treatment or maintain privacy and confidentiality. On the other hand, practitioner duties transcend mission requirements and embrace impartiality and neutrality irrespective of military necessity. Clearly, something is amiss....

Controversial Rights and Principles

• The right to die or refuse mandatory treatment
• Privacy and confidentiality
• Special Duties toward Compatriots?
• Medical Impartiality & Neutrality
• Dual Loyalty