Military Medical Professional’s Scope with Civilians
Devon Cafazzo
AMEDD Senior Leaders Course
Military Medical Professional’s Scope with Civilians A recent tragedy and horrific event happened in Boston on April 15, 2013. At 2:49 pm 3 people were killed and 264 people were injured during the bombing of the Boston Marathon. Since this event certain Military Units have had an increased presence as large public venues, including Sailfest, the Boston, Hartford, and New York City Marathons, as well as the US Open. I am the Medic on the team and as such my responsibilities include treatment of military personnel when injured or sick. Unfortunately, the law prevents Military Medical personnel from treating civilians in the US.
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Also, the military differs in the scope of practice of their medics. Scope of practicing being those people they are allowed to treat as well as what interventions they are allowed to perform. For instance, a civilian paramedic would not be allowed to transfer blood straight from one person to another because it is beyond their scope of practice. In the civilian world one’s scope of practice is clearly legally defined based on your job and training, and you cannot extend beyond it. In the military, when treating soldiers, airmen or marines medics are only restricted to what the doctor or physician assistant has trained them to do. All medics receive the same baseline training. They receive training in combat medicine as well as primary care medicine. Procedures they learn include, but are not limited to tourniquets, chest tubes, giving pain medication, and administering intravenous fluids. However, this baseline training is not what military medics are limited to administering. If the primary provider that overseas them trains them on a more advance procedures, and is comfortable with them performing it, that …show more content…
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In the last decade, over 1 million United States’ service members have been dispatched to conflict inflicted areas in the Middle East. As a result, there is also an increase in the number of veterans returning home from service due to either injury, illnesses, expiration of their time in combat, or discharge. Most of the veterans, however, have several health issues which they developed or experienced after deployment ., and access to care has become an issue for many of them. Therefore, the dDevelopment of new and innovative interventions meant to address these health issues has become a national priority. This chapter contains an overview of Vveterans’ healthcare needs and the issues they face while accessing healthcare. The significance
The video I chose to watch was “The Wounded Platoon”. The population related to this video that faces difficulties in terms of access to health care are United States veterans. This video specifically mentions veterans of the Third Platoon, who were deployed to fight during the Iraq War. One overarching difficulty this population has in terms of access to health care is a lack of wanting to come forward. One soldier stated that those who came forward with symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) feared ridicule. PTSD is very stigmatized, especially in the military, where it is stated that coming forward with symptoms of PTSD could be considered “a sign of weakness”. Many veterans claimed they did not need help and reported no mental duress. However, it was shown that many of these veterans were self-medicating. It was stated that there was an over three thousand percent increase in Fort Carson soldiers failing drug tests after the Iraq War.
As Tim O’Brien states in his short story book, The Things They Carried, the only true thing about war is its allegiance to evil and obscenity. One example of this faithfulness war has to stick to its truth is the inevitable death of many soldiers. War consumes. It consumes a large amount of resources, money, energy, time, but most of all it consumes human lives. The ones who don’t pass must bear the witness of the death of the others. “In the Field”, one of the short stories in O’Brien’s book, explores the way death is handled by soldiers and the process by which absorb the emotions that come along with it.
The identification of civilians’ bodies after genocides or political atrocities has received considerable attention in academia due to its social, judicial, and humanitarian implications. By contrast, the remains of soldiers have not been given enough attention. For one thing, soldiers are not always regarded as victims---they are trained to kill people and their deaths are deemed as battle casualties with less moral or legal consequence than civilians. For another, due to the destruction of bodies during battles, the necessity of quick troop maneuver, the loss of territory to enemies, or merely sanitary concerns that demand immediate disposal of bodies, abandoning soldiers’ remains in remote, unmarked graves is not beyond the imagination of
Narrowly escaping death or seeing their comrades’ die has an everlasting effect on soldiers. Soldiers have to live with the constant fear of dying and anxiety. “They took up what others could no longer bear. Often, they carried each other, the wounded or weak.” (O’Brien 14)
The failure to step up in the heat of battle—courtesy of the Medical Department—led to apoplectic and private citizens to help care for wounded soldiers. The incompetence of the Medical Department also led to the most powerful of organizations, such as the U.S. Sanitary Commission, to lobby Congress and the War Department to change the Army Medical Department and help fund hospitals and supplies (Hawk).
For employees of the U.S Military including the air force, army, navy, marine and coastal guards, one can get tax advice and help from the free tax services provided by the Armed Forces Tax Council. These services are provided at different levels. If you are in the military or you are a veteran, you can find out more about these free services by enquiring from your local administrative office. Below is the structure of this free military tax service:
training and did not screen donors for issues with their blood. This led to soldiers
I heard Dr. Albigence mumble under his breath, “eyes are almost spoil’d with continual smoke,” while he was operating on me. (Albigence 151 ) I felt disgusted that my own doctor barely see, and became fearful that he might amputate in the wrong spot and cut off my whole hand instead of one finger. More grumbling from Dr. Albigence was heard by one of my fellow soldiers. He said that the doctor vomited and asked if he was alright. Dr. Albigence replied, “I am sick...Vomit half my time.”(Albigence 151) The thought came to my mind, if the doctor dies we will have no medical attention, which could lead to death. Not too long ago I saw a list that notified us that from December to June an estimated 1,800 had died due to illnesses during encampment. (Busch 147) Despair dawned on me, I came to the realization that so many people died therefore I have an even higher chance of dying. I was strolling by the medical tent when I heard Dr. Albigence arguing with General Washington, “I can’t endure it” my surgeon said. (Albigence 151 ) A fear that our doctor might quit on us saddened me. Death and illness has caused me to not re-enlist because Dr. Albigence might die or quit which might cause me to die or get sick. With the high possibilities of death and illness, I would rather go home for a chance to
In many cases, soldiers didn’t seek treatment in fear that their military careers would come to an end. Others were on waiting lists or were directed to the bottom of the list among treatment providers without getting consistent care, or seemed to slip under the radar completely.
It’s not easy knowing that your fellow soldiers have died and you’re still alive. Sometimes I wonder if it is better to be dead, never having to experience the horrific images of bloodied lifeless bodies and the sound of helpless screams again.
According to the Occupational Outlook Handbook members of the U.S military, service maintains the U.S. national defense. The military is made up of enlisted and officer careers. They work with hi-tech machinery to help in the field. People in the military wear uniforms that show their ranks by badges. This job is so important because without the military people would be in danger and lives might not be saved.
In the United States, soldiers are currently returning home from war broken and scarred. While some physical wounds are clearly visible others are often hidden/invisible to the naked eye, but men and women proudly wear these wounds as a badge of courage and honor for protecting our nation. These men and women come home rightfully expecting help, assistance and care and get hit with the reality of poor care from the Veteran Health Administration and Department of Defense.
In war there is death. People, soldiers, and countries suffer during war. Death is a looming topic and event that people are not quite comfortable with facing. Death is ominous. Death is scary.
To begin, soldiers have to put up with seeing gruesome deaths and witnessing their enemy’s dead bodies