Life in Crisis: The Ethical Journey of Doctors Without Borders

Life in Crisis tells the story of M decins Sans Fronti res (Doctors Without Borders or MSF) and its effort to "save lives" on a global scale. Begun in 1971 as a French alternative to the Red Cross, the MSF has grown into an international institution with a reputation for outspoken protest as well as technical efficiency. It has also expanded beyond emergency response, providing for a wider range of endeavors, including AIDS care. Yet its seemingly simple ethical goal proves deeply complex in practice. MSF continually faces the problem of defining its own limits. Its minimalist form of care recalls the promise of state welfare, but without political resolution or a sense of well-being beyond health and survival. Lacking utopian certainty, the group struggles when the moral clarity of crisis fades. Nevertheless, it continues to take action and innovate. Its organizational history illustrates both the logic and the tensions of casting humanitarian medicine into a leading role in international affairs.



Author: Peter Redfield
Publisher: University of California Press
Published: 02/25/2013
Pages: 338
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.95lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.60d
ISBN13: 9780520274853
ISBN10: 0520274857
BISAC Categories:
- Medical | Health Care Delivery
- Social Science | Anthropology | Cultural & Social
- Medical | Ethics

About the Author
Peter Redfield is Professor of Anthropology at the University of North Carolina. He is the author of Space in the Tropics: From Convicts to Rockets in French Guiana.