Legal dilemmas of the military and law enforcement field care in Hungary

Abstract

The battlefield care means supportive activities of the military and law enforcement missions, its task is saving human lives. The battlefield care should be interpreted as an interdisciplinary profession where the rules of operational implementation and acute health care must coexist. Both specialties represent a major responsibility, so their strict legal definition is an essential and mandatory element. The military health care includes field care and has a long history, so there was enough time and experience to create a legal framework behind it, which can authorize practical work. There is a strong relation between deployment of special intervention units with police battlefield care and appearance of global terrorism. The military systems provided the model in setting up the medical capabilities of law enforcement services. According to military models, military instructors trained the police on basis of military legislation. The changed security environment required the rapid development of special intervention units and counter-terrorist units. The birth of law enforcement battlefield care – tactical medicine (TM) - is part of this development. Just as well as the reinterpretation of TM, based on new expectations of our society. The modern approach to tactical medicine has overgrown military regulators, today these laws are not able to handle the differences in the basic tasks of law enforcement adequately. The expectations of our society and police profession justify the creation of a new law on tactical medicine.