Abstract

International Humanitarian Law/Law of Armed Conflict requires that medical care be provided without distinction. The realities of armed conflict, however, have complicated this universal rule. Specifically, resource scarcity within the context of armed conflict has led to medical policy and practices that seem to contradict the foundational concept of non-discrimination. Simply put—sometimes health care providers cannot provide care to everyone, necessitating distinction between patient groups based not only upon medical need, but also military necessity, and patient identity (e.g., compatriot, ally, enemy, civilian). Policies which define an individual’s eligibility and the level of medical care that they will receive from deployed medical treatment facilities are known as medical rules of eligibility or MROE. This chapter offers a comparative analysis of established policies surrounding MROE within NATO, the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), and the United States Department of Defense (DoD) medical doctrine, providing an overview of how medical eligibility decisions are formalized into policy across military contexts.