Sheri Fink - War Hospital

“ 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.”

“Unusually impressive documentation and stylistic superiority.”

“Dr. Fink has taken on a mighty task here… She executes it with an artist’s ear and a journalist’s quiet authority. In the process, it’s possible that she’s delivered one of the most memorable chronicles of the Balkan conflict.”

“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 Fink’s 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.”

“A moving account of one of Europe’s 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.”

“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) one’s medical oath in the midst of a genocide.”

“Sheri Fink’s book, which you won’t put down until the last line, is tough and unforgettable…. [It] is a lesson in courage.”

“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.”

“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.”

Afghanistan

humanitarian-military cooperation in

neutral aid worker targeting in

“Agreement for the demilitarization of Srebrenica” (April 17, 1993), Bosnian war ceasefire from

Ahmetović, Sadik

Boro Lazić and

postwar years of

self-injury of

Srebrenica evacuation and

Srebrenica Hospital and

Žepa evacuation and

Air Defense System

Airdrops. See also Operation Provide Comfort; Operation Provide Promise

Akashi, Special Representative of the U.N. Secretary-General Yasushik

Albright, Madeleine, Serbian atrocities and

Alić, Denis

Alić, Dr. Ejub

atheism of

Denis (Deno), son of

early career of

education of

family of

father’s death of

lack of surgical experience of

leg amputation by

literature, poetry and song of

Mubina, wife of

postwar years of

Srebrenica escape of

Srebrenica Hospital and

Tuzla Hospital and

war attitudes of

war’s effect on

youth of

Alić, Mubina

Ejub Alić and

mother’s death of

Alići

Amputations

priority of

war difficulties in performing

Amputees, major causes of death of

Anesthesia. See also Ketamine

history of

unavailability in Bosnia of

Annan, Kofi

as head of U.N. Department of Peacekeeping Operations

as U.N. Secretary-General

Wahlgren, Morillon and

Anterior tibial artery

APC (armored personnel carrier)

Apparatchiks, Communist-style

Arkan. See RaŽnjatović, Željko (Arkan)

Article 51 of U.N. charter

Association of Victims’ Families

Atrocities, war

in Bosnia

in Croatia

Atropine

Austro-Hungarian Empire

Avdić, Ajka

Bakalović, Dr. Avdo

Baljkovica forest

Balkans

Bečirović, Ramiz

Dutchbat and

Srebrenica evacuation and

as Srebrenica’s acting commander

Begić, Dževad

Begić, Sabit

Belgium

Belgrade

description of

U.N. refugee mission in

UNPROFOR in

Biafrans

Bijeljina

Bio-131-S

Birth control

Birtley, Tony (ABC news)

Bjelovac, battle of

Bojna hill

Bosanski Brod

Bosnia and Herzegovina. See also Bosnian Muslims; Bosnian war; Sarajevo; Srebrenica

annexation from Yugoslavia of

entry into U.N. by

government loyalists of

history of

hunger strike of

interethnic tensions in (1990)

medical supplies shortage in

military disadvantages of

Milošević’s economic blockade of (1991)

Muslim-Croat Federation of

Operation Provide Promise and

peace protests in

Serb land takeover of

Serb Republic of

Serb sanctions and

starvation in

U.N. and

U.N. arms embargo of

U.N. evacuations of

United States and

Bosnia international stabilization force

Bosnia radio

Bosnia-Herzegovina. See Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnian Army Second Corps

wartime health service reinvention of

Bosnian Army’s Twenty-Eighth Division

Bosnian government forces. See also Bosnian Muslim ad hoc troops; Srebrenican forces

Croatian forces teamed with

Serb attacks of

Srebrenica aid/arms smuggling of

Srebrenican evacuees and

Srebrenican forces and

Bosnian Muslim ad hoc troops

Serb nationalist forces v.

Bosnian Muslim nationalists

Bosnian Muslims

Croats v.

genocide of

mass graves of

oppression of

retributions on Serbs by

Serb ethnic cleansing of

Bosnian Serbs. See Serbs, Bosnian

Bosnian war. See also Bosnian government forces; Milošević, Slobodan; Serb nationalist forces, Bosnian; Srebrenican forces

1995 end of

beginnings of

ceasefire (April 17, 1993)

citizens involvement in

communication problems in

international reluctance to intercede in

Sarajevo and

Boutros-Ghali, U.N. Secretary-General Boutros

Bosnian concerns of

Bratstvo-Jedinstvo (For Brotherhood and Unity)

Bratunac

Srebrenican prisoners in

Bratunac health clinic

Srebrenican atrocity claims of

Brauman, Rony

Bosnian military intervention request of

MSF-France and

Britain

Afghanistan and

Bosnian war combat reluctance of

Contact Group peace proposal and

genocide prevention failure of

Broz, Josip. See Tito

Brussels

Budak mountain