HMC Ethics Forum | A Thousand Cuts: War, Illness, and the Journey from Physician to Patient

This talk explores the long-term medical and public health consequences of war, drawing on frontline clinical experience caring for patients with complex injuries and chronic illness in a conflict setting. It also reflects on the ethical and personal impact of transitioning from physician to critically ill patient, highlighting how that experience reshapes perspective, empathy, and care delivery.

Objectives:

1. Examine the intersection of war, public health, and chronic illness through real-world clinical experience in Gaza.

2. Evaluate ethical tensions in delivering care under extreme conditions, including moral distress and systems constraints.

3. Integrate insights from personal illness into a deeper understanding of vulnerability, trust, and the patient experience.

Speaker Bio:

Tanya Shah is a board-certified family medicine physician who practices as a locum tenens clinician in critical access hospitals across the United States, working across emergency, inpatient, and intensive care settings. She also teaches point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) and hospital-based procedures nationwide and is passionate about medical education in global settings. She has worked with Médecins Sans Frontières to help build an ICU and train local staff in Eswatini, and most recently served as an ICU and emergency physician in Gaza during an intense period of conflict. Shortly after returning to the United States, she developed severe pneumonia requiring two weeks of mechanical ventilation in the ICU. Drawing from her experiences as both a frontline physician in conflict zones and a critically ill patient, Dr. Shah offers a unique perspective on the long-term health impacts of war and the ethical and human dimensions of the physician–patient experience.