In Syria, Doctors Risk Life and Juggle Ethics SHERYL GAY STOLBERG and ANNE BARNARDSHERYL GAY STOLBERGANNE BARNARD Published: October 21,

Chemical Weapons? WASHINGTON — Months before a chemical weapons attack killed hundreds of Syrians and prompted threats of an American military strike, an anesthesiologist named Majid heard an explosion near his home in a Damascus suburb. He rushed to the makeshift hospital where he works and found patients with itching skin, burning eyes, and shortness of breath. Majid, who gave only his first name to protect his safety, collected hair and urine samples, clothing, tree leaves, soil and even a dead bird. He shared it with the Syrian American Medical Society, a humanitarian group that had been delivering such samples to American intelligence officials, as proof of possible chemical attacks.

Dangerous Place Syria’s civil war has been especially dangerous for health professionals; a United Nations report issued last month described the “deliberate targeting of hospitals, medical personnel and transports” as “one of the most alarming features of the Syrian conflict.” By varying estimates, more than 100 doctors have been killed and as many as 600 have been imprisoned.report The country’s once-functioning health system is in a shambles. More than half of its public hospitals have been damaged in the two-year-old civil war and 37 percent are out of service entirely, according to a recent report by the World Health Organization. Many Syrian doctors have fled; those who remain describe dire conditions where even the most basic care is not available.report

What should physicians do? Chemical warfare — which appeared to begin with small- scale attacks this year and culminated in the sarin gas attack in August that killed hundreds of Syrians — made that difficult situation even more complex, posing ethical questions about whether, and how, to speak up … Any public statement … could put the group’s [Doctors Without Borders] doctors and their Syrian partners at risk, exposing them to accusations of siding with rebels and leaving them vulnerable to retaliation from government forces. And they feared that Western governments, including the Obama administration, could use their words as grounds for a military strike.

Ultimately … Syrian government has been forced (through the United Nations) to destroy stockpiles of chemical resources.

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