subject: War: The Psychological Effects On Physicians [print this page] War will have a horrible affect on the medical profession. Medical physicians hate to become involved with a practice that is not interesting to them on either an international or a national level; they despise this more than the killing of their practitioners. During wartime doctors must stay neutral, no matter which side their country is on.
If war ever comes to American soil, there would be greater demands on the medical profession to protect national health as well as being physically involved in both illnesses and injuries - which calls for better organization. A variety of reactions would occur within the United States. Many of the local physician groups will lose young members as they are drafted away. Even retired military or reservists may go back to active duty. Individual doctors would have to yield up their practices in favor of clinics, and the clinics would have to give way to cooperative groups so that there could be joint practice. There will be a greater focus on preventing epidemics. Past situations indicate that epidemics must be prevented, particularly during times when doctors are overburdened.
Serving in the military will become more popular. All American medical schools were already written down and catalogued in case of urgent national health crises. It is a little known fact that, under the direction of the U.S. War Department Medical Division, a small group of the national guard has already formed and can launch quickly when needed. The medical business is famed for its cooperation with the army sanitary division. Worried about the most efficient means of advancing good health, both groups are concerned with food purity and available water supplies.
There are plenty of physicians who focus on prepping and enhancing special medications, toxins, anti-toxins, blood transfusion storage allocations and sera. This will be the area where the greatest scientific research contributions will occur. Issues unique to wartime, including instantaneous traumas which cause soldiers to drop from seemingly insignificant wounds, should receive substantial attention from researchers both in the field of battle and also in the academic realm.
Medical teaching will be greatly accelerated. A greater demand for physicians will emerge, and medical professionals will be casualties of war. This assumes the need for the U.S. to enter into war. If it were possible for America to keep from actively participating in the war, the research in war shock would be priceless.
Many more accomplishments can be made if scientists work sensibly. When we are not laboring under the possibility of imminent death and ruin, scientific work proves to be far more productive; new cures are not created all the time, and vitamins are not uncovered each and every day. For those who have lived through the last few wars there's always the fear that a current war would have the same devastating moral and intellectual effects as previous ones have. In the beginning, we tried to stay calm and rational in order to maintain our judgment.
But as more time went by and the horrors of war became an everyday occurrence, reason broke down. There was a loss of judgement of right and wrong, as well as a lack of interest. Trying to think reasonably about anything suddenly seem like treachery. Occasionally, hardness is rewarded more so than humanity. Nobody is able to discern how far we can wander down this same path. Only one thing is for certain; this much the other has shown us. No one benefits from the insanity that erupts when a war comes upon us.
When the suffering is over we will be left to repair the infrastructure as well as dealing with the aftermath of hostility and suspicion and the loss of our moral integrity. If will serve us in good stead, when it's time to start rebuilding, if we use this time of research and testing to keep our sense of a constructive spirit alive within us.
