War and American Nursing: A Question of Human Rights and Professional Voice

War And American Nursing: A Question of Human Rights and Professional Voice

The International Council of Nurses (ICN) affirms its opposition to armed conflict under any circumstances (Position Statement of Armed Conflict: Nursing's Perspective.) The United States is among the countries expressing allegiance to the Council and yet American nurses remain largely silent even as opposition to the Iraq war continues to grow among the general public. In 2004, the presenter published an editorial which appeared in the American Journal of Nursing. It raised the possibility of nurses speaking with collective voice against the carnage engendered by war. At that time the American death toll was less than 2000 and a study in the New England Journal of Medicine calculated the number of Iraqi deaths at 100,000. Responses from nurses to that editorial ran 3:1 in opposition to the war. Two years later, her second editorial viewpoint appeared in AJN. This time the number of American deaths neared 3000 and the recently released Johns Hopkins study claimed the number of Iraqi deaths exceeded 650, 000. The essay questioned the reluctance of nurses to condemn, and take action in the face of, a widely discredited conflict with mounting casualties. The tone and number of negative responses received revealed a marked escalation over the past two years. This session will examine some of these responses and consider possible reasons for the reluctance of American nurses to publicly oppose a war viewed as misguided and futile by many, both nationally and internationally.