The Myth of Medical Neutrality & Limitations of Biomedical Explanations In Settler Colonial Societies with Dr. Mary Turfah
Oct 7, 2024
auto_awesome
Dr. Mary Turfah, a resident physician and researcher focused on the Nakba's trauma memory, delves into the complexities of medical neutrality amid settler colonialism. She discusses the alarming targeting of healthcare workers in Gaza, revealing how this strategy cripples medical infrastructure and threatens future care. Turfah critiques the historical misuse of medical neutrality, highlighting its racialized limitations. She emphasizes the humanity of healthcare professionals often depicted through a biased lens, urging a reevaluation of narratives surrounding these systemic issues.
The historical concept of medical neutrality has been distorted in modern contexts, particularly regarding healthcare workers in conflict zones like Gaza.
There is a systematic targeting of healthcare professionals in Gaza, undermining medical infrastructure and purposefully exerting control over the Palestinian population.
The narrative framing healthcare workers as combatants reflects racialized limitations in medical assistance, complicating their roles as caregivers within the conflict.
Deep dives
The Concept of Medical Neutrality
Medical neutrality is an essential concept that emerged during the mid-1800s, aimed at protecting healthcare workers on battlefields. It was established after the Battle of Solferino, where the humanitarian Henry Dunant highlighted the need for neutral medical volunteers who could safely assist both sides in conflict. This concept has been distorted in modern contexts, especially concerning the treatment of healthcare workers in conflict zones like Gaza, where the concept fails due to the complete disregard for the humanity of the local population. The Israeli military's systematic targeting of medical facilities and personnel, disregarding the core principle of medical neutrality, reflects a broader strategy to eliminate sources of life within the Palestinian population.
Targeting of Healthcare Workers
The systematic targeting of healthcare workers in Gaza serves a dual purpose: undermining medical infrastructure and exerting control over the Palestinian population. Nearly 500 healthcare professionals have been killed due to direct attacks by Israeli forces, often through bombings or summary executions, creating a climate of fear among medical staff. These attacks are part of a calculated effort to destroy those who provide critical life-saving care, effectively crippling the medical system and depriving the population of necessary medical support. As healthcare workers adapt by changing out of their scrubs to avoid being recognized and targeted, the psychological impact on those left behind intensifies, demonstrating the profound toll of such violence on medical personnel.
The Implications of Racialized Medical Care
The dichotomy between how medical care is perceived and practiced by different populations underscores the racialized limitations of medical assistance. In the context of Gaza, healthcare workers are continually subjected to the narrative that frames them as combatants, undermining their role as caregivers. This narrative serves as a justification for the Israeli military's actions, absolving them of responsibility for the destruction they cause. The Jewish doctors and medical staff who work in Israeli military hospitals face no such scrutiny, highlighting the hypocrisy in the application of humanitarian law between different nations and populations.
The Neglect of Medical Ethics
The overwhelming majority of Israeli doctors and healthcare professionals have failed to openly condemn or act against the atrocities committed in Gaza, effectively compromising their medical ethics. While there is a veneer of neutrality applied to the practice of medicine, this neutrality has become a means for complacency, as doctors can avoid addressing the harm inflicted upon the Palestinian population. This detachment results in a system where patients in Gaza are treated with suspicion instead of compassion, leading to a breakdown of trust. The impact is particularly evident in cases where healthcare providers are overwhelmed with responsibilities beyond their training, further hampering the quality of care.
The Role of the Medical Profession in Conflict
The ongoing violence and instability within Gaza have led to a drastic reduction in experienced healthcare professionals as many senior doctors flee the region. This exodus of skilled medical personnel results in a reliance on less experienced doctors and medical students who are ill-prepared for the challenges they face. The healthcare system becomes a shadow of its former self as the lack of mentorship and guidance compromises training and future care capabilities. The Israeli military strategy to decimate healthcare resources not only weakens immediate medical responses but also creates a long-term crisis in the area's ability to sustain a competent medical workforce.
The Systematic Abduction of Healthcare Workers
There is a grim reality surrounding the systematic abduction of healthcare workers in Gaza, with at least 240 recorded cases that remain underreported. These abductions create an environment of terror, making it increasingly difficult for medical professionals to conduct their work. Each abduction represents an attempt by Israeli forces to instill fear and dismantle any semblance of organization within the healthcare community, further perpetuating the cycle of violence. By targeting those who save lives, the ongoing conflict seeks to strip away essential support systems necessary for the survival of the Palestinian population.
In this interview, we are joined by Mary Turfah who discusses a couple of her recent articles including the broader context of medical neutrality and the targeting of healthcare workers in Gaza. She addresses the historical context of medical neutrality, which emerged in the mid-1800s as a means to ensure medical immunity on the battlefield. Turfah explains how this concept has racialized limitations, particularly in colonial contexts where colonizers often do not need the medical facilities of the colonized and thus feel justified in targeting them. Turfah highlights the systematic targeting of healthcare workers in Gaza by Israeli forces, noting that nearly 500 healthcare workers had been killed as of May 15th, often through targeted bombings or summary executions. She emphasizes that this targeting is part of a broader strategy to control the Palestinian population by eliminating those who can provide life-saving care. This strategy not only cripples the current medical infrastructure but also undermines the future training and development of medical professionals in Gaza. The interview also touches on the personal experiences of healthcare workers in Gaza, who often have to change out of their scrubs to avoid being targeted and face abductions and other forms of violence. Turfah underscores the importance of recognizing the humanity and professional integrity of these healthcare workers, who are often put on the defensive in Western media narratives that seek to justify Israeli actions. Turfah also problematizes the psychological and biomedical explanations used to justify the behavior of Israeli Zionists, arguing that the roots of this violence lie in the Zionist ideology and colonial project, not individual psychosis. We conclude by reflecting on Mary’s experiences as a surgical resident and the broader implications for medical professionals working in conflict zones. You can follow Mary Turfah on Twitter and Instagram at @MaryTurfah to keep up with her work and insights. Mary Turfah is a writer and resident physician trained in Middle Eastern South Asian and African Studies at Columbia, where her research focused on trauma memory and the margins of the Nakba. She has written about medical neutrality and settler psychosis for The Baffler, the (mis)uses of Edward Said's famous 'permission to narrate' for Protean, the destruction of medical infrastructure in Gaza for The Nation, and other things for other places. She is working on an essay collection about medicine and imperialism, explored through the life of a Lebanese ob-gyn who inspired her to pursue medicine.
Giving direct aid to people in Gaza is a way of directly intervening against the genocidal policy of zionist settler colonialism and US imperialism. We recommend the Sameer Project as a a grassroots direct-aid organization that provides tents, water, food and medical aid to Palestinians in Gaza, including areas of the north where the Zionist entity does not allow NGOs to function. We’ll link a recent livestream we hosted with Hala from the Sameer Project as well as links to their funds.
To support our work become a patron of the show for as little as $1 per month. We will have a patreon-member only release tomorrow (October 8th)
This episode is edited & produced by Aidan Elias. Music, as always, is by Televangel
