Ethics of Medical Innovation, Experimentation, and Enhancement in Military and Humanitarian Contexts

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-vi

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2. Ethics of Medical Innovation, Experimentation, and Enhancement in Military and Humanitarian Contexts. Introduction to the Volume

   • Daniel Messelken, David Winkler

   Pages 1-23

3. Research and Research Ethics in Military and Humanitarian Contexts

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 25-25

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   2. Innovation or Experimentation? Experiences from a Military Surgeon

      • Jackson B. Taylor

      Pages 27-36

   3. The Impact of the Duty to Obey Orders in Relation to Medical Care in the Military

      • Nikki Coleman

      Pages 37-52

   4. Medical Prophylaxis in the Military: A Case for Limited Compulsion

      • Neil Eisenstein, Heather Draper

      Pages 53-67

   5. From the Lab Bench to the Battlefield: Novel Vaccine Technologies and Informed Consent

      • Paul Eagan, Sheena M. Eagan

      Pages 69-85

   6. Humanitarian Wearables: Digital Bodies, Experimentation and Ethics

      • Kristin Bergtora Sandvik

      Pages 87-104

   7. Value-Sensitive Design for Humanitarian Action: Integrating Ethical Analysis for Information and Communication Technology Innovations

      • Allister Smith, John Pringle, Matthew Hunt

      Pages 105-124

4. Military Human Enhancement: “Science-Fiction” in the Real World

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 125-125

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   2. Military Enhancement: Technologies, Ethics and Operational Issues

      • Ioana Maria Puscas

      Pages 127-146

   3. Human Enhancement, Transhuman Warfare and the Question: What Does It Mean to Be Human?

      • Dirk Fischer

      Pages 147-157

   4. Genetic Science and the Future of American War-Fighters

      • Sheena M. Eagan

      Pages 159-173

   5. Military Medical Enhancement and Autonomous AI Systems: Requirements, Implications, Concerns

      • Tomislav Miletić

      Pages 175-194

   6. Experimental Usage of AI Brain-Computer Interfaces: Computerized Errors, Side-Effects, and Alteration of Personality

      • Ian Stevens, Frédéric Gilbert

      Pages 195-209

   7. Memory Modification as Treatment for PTSD: Neuroscientific Reality and Ethical Concerns

      • Rain Liivoja, Marijn C. W. Kroes

      Pages 211-234

   8. “A Difficult Weapon to Confiscate” – Ethical Implications of Military Human Enhancement as Reflected in the Science Fiction Genre, Taking Star Trek as an Example

      • Frederik Vongehr

      Pages 235-260

   9. Supersoldiers and Superagers? Modernity Versus Tradition

      • Paul Gilbert

      Pages 261-268

This book discusses ethical questions surrounding research and innovation in military and humanitarian contexts. It focuses on human enhancement in the military. Recently, the availability of medical enhancement designed to make soldiers more capable of surviving during conflict, as well as enabling them to defeat their enemies, has emerged. Innovation and medical research in military and humanitarian contexts may thus yield positive effects, but simultaneously leads to a number of highly problematic ethical issues.  

The work contains contributions on medical ethics that take into account the specific roles and obligations of military and humanitarian health care providers and the ethical problems they encounter. They cover different aspects of research and innovation such as vaccine development, medical enhancement, compassionate and experimental drug use, research and application of new technologies such as wearables, “Humanitarian innovation” to cope with scarce resources, Biometrics, big data, etc.The book is of interest and importance to researchers and policy makers  involved with human enhancement, medical research, and innovation in military and humanitarian missions.

• medical military ethics
• military medicine
• medical care in the military
• informed consent in the military
• military human enhancement
• transhuman warfare
• autonomous AI systems
• supersoldiers
• AI Brain-Computer interfaces
• genetic manipulation
• military technological enhancement
• vaccine technologies in warfare

• Zurich Center for Military Medical Ethics, Center for Ethics, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland

  Daniel Messelken

• Center of Reference for Education on IHL & Ethics, International Committee of Military Medicine, Bern, Switzerland

  David Winkler

Daniel Messelken is a research associate at the Center for Ethics at Zurich University and leader of the Zurich Center for Military Medical Ethics (www.cmme.uzh.ch). He also serves as Head Ethics Teacher for the Center of Reference for Education on IHL and Ethics of the International Committee of Military Medicine and is member of the Board of Directors of the International Society for Military Ethics in Europe (EuroISME). Dr. Messelken studied Philosophy and Political Science in Leipzig and Paris (1998-2004) and received his PhD in philosophy from the University of Leipzig in 2010. Besides Military Medical Ethics, his main research fields include Just War Theory, the Morality of Violence, Military Ethics, and Applied Ethics more generally.

 

David T. Winkler is director of the Center of Reference for Education on International Humanitarian Law and Ethics of the International Committee of Military Medicine (www.cimm-icmm.com). He is a medical doctor specializing inneurology and holds a Ph.D. in neurobiology. Lieutenant Colonel Winkler is a staff officer in the Swiss Armed Forces Medical Services Directorate. He conducts clinical and academic work at the University Hospital Basel, and the Cantonal Hospital Baselland, Switzerland.

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