Medical mission: interaction hindered by the armed conflict

Abstract

Field research in Bioethics. Objective To analyze from a bioethical perspective the situations experienced in the Colombian Catatumbo area by health personnel belonging to the medical mission (MM), through the establishment of links from the theoretical perspective of social conflict. Methodology: historical hermeneutic paradigm, with phenomenological approach, framed in socio-contextual factors. With the approval of the ethics committee of the health entity. Through in-depth interviews with health personnel in the armed conflict zone of Catatumbo. Two emerging categories were identified: 1) Social injustice that prevents dignified conditions for the parties and 2) The direct and indirect actors of the conflict legitimize an oppressive culture. As conclusions, it is evident from the stories, that health care is an interaction hindered by groups that are part of the armed conflict, which appeal to various forms of hostility: from confrontations to acts of revenge, involving members, means and facilities of the Medical Mission (which are seen by the parties to the conflict as an expression of the institutionalist, which makes them the target of their attacks) in actions that are in violation of International Humanitarian Law (IHL). From the point of view of bioethics, it is necessary to reflect on these violations to health personnel (due to the conflict of bioethical principles), non-maleficence prevails over beneficence, the lack of autonomy makes it impossible to carry out beneficial health actions in the population, social injustice takes precedence over the principle of health justice and prevents them from orienting the meaning of their work around the respect, protection and defense of life and human dignity.