Episode Details

There is a long history of protecting health care workers during conflict, beginning with an 1859 battle in Italy that gave rise to the first Geneva Convention. But there’s never been a “golden age of compliance” and health care workers continue to face considerable risk while trying to reduce human suffering in war zones. Len Rubenstein, a public health and human rights lawyer and faculty at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute for Bioethics, talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about his new book that examines the history of health care in armed conflict, how the Conventions have evolved, and where things are today with notable conflicts erupting around the world.