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Since antiquity, medical care has played an important role in both military strategy and conflict resolution. Although this is usually a negative and an unintended event, medical care can be a positive and a rational alternative to present-day weapons of mass destruction. Yet, military and civilian planners have not traditionally accepted, recognized, and used a "philanthropic string." Nevertheless, medical care can be an important factor in resolving international conflict, either in support of military operations or as a separate function. Therefore, it is timely, and pragmatic, to include humanitarian medical care in strategic military planning.

The defense of the innocent, as well as the prosecution of the guilty, is a basic premise of American justice. This article reviews nine cases defended by the public defender system, in which the authors were involved, that illustrate some of the pitfalls in making the diagnosis of child abuse and/or neglect caused by thermal injury. The basis for the defense is also discussed, together with the biologic, engineering, and socioeconomic factors. The definition of child abuse and/or neglect is discussed, as is the devastating and long-lasting label of a false accusation, much less false imprisonment. In this regard this review concludes that professionals with thermal injury expertise must become involved in the judicial process if justice is to prevail.

In war, there has always been a dichotomy between health care needs and resources, and until the mid 18th century, this was an accepted fact of military medicine. However, since then, health care has made remarkable progress based on a belief that a linear periodic deterministic approach will provide solutions to problems. The dichotomy between needs and resources has been recognized or accepted only in disaster or mass casualty medicine, and then only to a limited degree. While degradation to dyssymmetry or chaos and unpredictability is accepted in other scientific disciplines, it has been ignored in medicine. The unpredictability and dissonance inherent in providing military medical care exists, and requires an acceptance of chaos as normal and inevitable. Accordingly, graded responses or austere levels of treatment care plans should be developed that will provide for improved care, particularly in austere military situations.