Table of Contents
PRAISE FORWAR HOSPITAL
Sheri Fink is ... a physician and a superb chronicler. In War Hospital she takes us from the Caucasus into the Balkans ... Through her artistry, she catches the thoughts and emotions of various actors involved in that bloody theater, especially physicians: the majority of them men who, under complex motivations that range from adventurism to patriotic sentiment and idealist self-abnegation, come into the war zone at great personal peril. The detailed notes at the end of the book attest to Finks impeccable and comprehensive research. Her scrupulous regard for historical truth and attention to detail make War Hospital an engrossing conspectus of a part of the recent Balkan war ... The Washington Post Book World
[Dr. Sheri Finks] story is an antidote to the abstract calls of glory, honor and heroism, words that can fill hearts with pride but that sound hollow in crowded, bloodied hospital corridors. Yet she reaches beyond even these themes and confronts the role of humanitarian assistance in wartime, raising the larger question of what must be done in the face of genocide ... Dr. Fink brings us into this world gone mad, where everyone laps up the depraved and sickening brew of war. But her real goal is to make us face our own culpability. We are guilty of genocide because we did not intervene. Neutrality, too, can be a crime. This is not a morality tale for others, but for ourselves. The New York Times
A moving account Good Housekeeping
War Hospital is an insightful account of the complexity of armed conflict and humanitarian assistance and a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the personal tragedy of war.JAMA (The Journal of the American Medical Association)
Wartime duty and medical ethics are stretched to the breaking point in this wrenching account ... of a small group of brave and idealistic doctors who set up shop in the besieged Bosnian town of Srebrenica.Discover Magazine
Unusually impressive documentation and stylistic superiority.
Library Journal
Dr. Fink has taken on a mighty task here ... She executes it with an artists ear and a journalists quiet authority. In the process, its possible that shes delivered one of the most memorable chronicles of the Balkan conflict.
American Book Review
Just as a life-or-death difference in ordinary existence may be made by a medical professional, so a life-or-death difference has been made, in some of the recently-devastated places of the earth, by medical volunteers. Sheri Finks work repays some of the debt that is owed to them. It also makes a direct and vital connection between Hippocratic idealism and the wider struggle, which is against the gangrene of ethnic and religious fascism. A powerful read.
Christopher Hitchens
A moving account of one of Europes worst modern tragedies. This heroic story of a small group of seemingly doomed doctors skillfully raises questions about medical ethics, international aid, and human nature itself. Humanity captured at its worst and its best. David Rohde, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of Endgame: The Betrayal and Fall of Srebrenica
Sheri Fink, a doctor herself and someone with profound experience of practicing battlefield medicine, has a remarkable insight into this tragic and complicated story. Her book is an invaluable contribution to understanding what happened in Bosnia, above all in doomed Srebrenica, as well as a fascinating account of what it is to try to uphold (or fail to uphold) ones medical oath in the midst of a genocide. David Rieff, author of A Bed for the Night: Humanitarianism in Crisis
Sheri Finks book, which you wont put down until the last line, is tough and unforgettable.... [It] is a lesson in courage. Dr. Bernard Kouchner, founder of Doctors Without Borders, the recipient of the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize
This is an important, gripping book about doctors in wartime ... Like a special episode of ER, but with our cast operating in a very real dilapidated hospital without adequate equipment or supplies, War Hospital makes you care about Bosnians, makes you feel, see, and smell the fear, despair, humor, bravery, betrayal, and confusion that permeate war ... Go get War Hospital and read it now.
Robert K. Musil, Executive Director of Physicians for Social Responsibility
Sheri Fink, a physician with the ears of a reporter and the touch of a novelist, tells the unshakable story of ill-prepared medical volunteers in genocidal Bosnia with sensitivity and grace. She has given us a book about heroism, principle, compromise, triumph, and failure that respects them all.
David Hajdu, PEN American Award Citation
To my parents and grandparents
and the doctors and nurses of eastern Bosnia
Medical ethics in time of armed conflict
is identical to medical ethics in time of peace ...
The primary obligation of the physician is his professional duty;
in performing his professional duty,
the physicians supreme guide is his conscience.
The primary task of the medical professional
is to preserve health and save life.
Regulations in Time of Armed Conflict,
World Medical Association, 1956, 1957, 1983
The doctors fundamental role is to alleviate the distress of his or her fellow men, and no motive, whether personal, collective or political shall prevail against this higher purpose.
The Declaration of Tokyo,
World Medical Association, 1975
CAST OF CHARACTERS
MAIN CHARACTERS WITH AGES AT THE BEGINNING OF THE BOSNIAN WAR IN SPRING 1992
ALI, EJUB, 32 (AH-leetch, Ey-yoob)Physician at Srebrenica (SREBREHN-EET-SA) war hospital, separated from his wife and young son. Born in a small village and worked as an internal medicine resident in Bosnia before the war. Heavyset, with a round face, a good sense of humor, and a weakness for plum brandy.
DACHY, ERIC, 30 (Dah-shee)Head of the Doctors Without Borders mission in Belgrade, Serbia. Responsible for aid to eastern Bosnia. Belgian family practitioner. Passionate and outspoken. Wears a trademark black leather jacket and ponytail.
DAUTBAI, FATIMA, 26 (dah-UTE-bah-sheetch, fah-TEE-mah)Physician at Srebrenica war hospital. Family practitioner before the war. Girlfriend of Dr. Ilijaz Pilav. Has long, dark hair, beautiful eyes, and a high-pitched laugh.
LAZI, BORO, 27 (LAH-zeetch, BOE-roe)Physician with Bosnian Serb forces across the front lines from Srebrenica. Friends with several Srebrenica doctors and nurses before the war. Slender, with light brown hair, blue-green eyes, and a boyish face.
MUNJKANOVI, NEDRET, 31 (mooy-KAHN-oh-veetch, NED-reht)Surgical resident who volunteered to walk to Srebrenica across enemy territory in August 1993. Handsome, with an athletic build, a clean-shaven face, and a highly charismatic, if temperamental, personality.
