Medical Collective Protection Systems

Specific medications and items of equipment to treat chemical casualties will be carried by units operating in an area of chemical threat. When collective protection systems are not available, casualties will be taken upwind 100 m or more to permit treatment to occur in a shirtsleeve environment. Chemical agent detection equipment, such as the chemical agent monitor (CAM), should be available to determine (a) if agent vapors have been absorbed on surfaces of the casualty s clothing or equipment before entering a treatment area, and (b) if decontamination procedures have been properly accomplished. 

Collective protection serves a vital role in the medical area since treatment of casualties must continue even in a contaminated environment, thus collective protection is required to allow this critical function to continue. In addition, it allows individuals to rest and eat, and provides temporary relief from the individual protection equipment thus allowing continuing military operations in the contaminated environment. Collective protection systems have been designed to be used in either a medical or a nonmedical application. 

The sources for this discussion are experts at the U.S. Army Chemical and Biological Defense Command,34 and Collective Protective Equipment, U.S. Army Training Manual 34240-338-10,35 which interested readers can consult for greater detail. Medical Collective Protection Systems... 

The Medical Collective Protection Systems provide ample floor space and are accessible for litter patients through airlocks. Additionally, some of the systems provide airlocks through which ambulatory patients can pass. These options aid the medical community in its tasks when dealing with casualties in a chemically contaminated environment. 

The chemically protected deployable medical system (CP DEPMEDS) consists of the M28 collective protection equipment (CPE), which is designed to protect critical areas within the hospital complex from chemical-biological contamination (Figure 16-33). The M28 CPE can only be used with the TEMPER (tent, extendable, modular, personnel) system. The entire composite hospital ensemble... 

Soviet Ground Forces have even more significant compensations. All their modern tanks and armoured personnel carriers have protective seal-out liners and positive-pressure filtered air systems. These features enable their crews to operate in a shirt sleeve environment at periods when NATO forces would require full individual protection. Soviet armour is fully capable of riding over and across contaminated ground and, after rapid decontamination, is able to resume the advance. Other fighting vehicles, including support vehicles, missile transporters, and command vehicles possess either air filtration systems (in the more modern models) or individual protective equipment for their crews. Collective protection facilities, like the PP-2, are also a prominent part of the Soviet inventory. Once erected in the field, these centres enable work to be undertaken without protective clothing or allow soldiers to eat, rest, and complete other bodily functions. They may serve various purposes, for example, as centres for command and communication and as medical aid posts. ... 

Soviet collective protection is aimed at providing an environment in which troops can safely operate without having to wear their personal kit, and can so escape the reduction in efficiency that personal protection entails. Headquarters vehicles, logistics vehicles, medical facilities, tanks, and some armoured personnel carriers are fitted with filtration systems and internal over-pressure to give... 

It is interesting to think about what this means. In the future it will not be assumed a divine right, as it seems to be in many parts of the world at present, that physicians can share patient data with other physicians simply because they are physicians. The health information that contains protected (by law) personal information can be shared only after acquiring an explicit informed consent from the individual. The important exception to this is when the purpose of sharing the information is consistent with the purposes intended at the time of collection of the information or in the medical emergency such as the case where a person is in a critical condition but unconscious. A general consent at the time of collection, and probably built into the system as a... 

The treaty requires that chemical attacks should be investigated, and that the victims of such attacks should be assisted (including states parties that feel threatened by activities prohibited under the treaty). It obligates all states parties to proffer assistance, establishes a voluntary fund for this purpose, and indicates procedures for the rapid provision of detection systems, protective equipment, medical antidotes, advice and other assistance. Should the Technical Secretariat uncover evidence of non-compliance, the Executive Council must first consult with the states concerned, and, if necessary, set deadlines for corrective action to be taken. Should these measures prove insufficient, the Executive Council may refer the matter to the Conference of the States Parties, which may decide to recommend a collective response. In cases of particular gravity , the Conference is required to bring the issue before the UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council. 

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