Heather Kirkpatrick

Against Our Oath

Heather Kirkpatrick

Dr Frank Schneider, Hippocrates

Asylum seekers who arrive in Australia by boat are sent to the remote Pacific locations of Manus Island and Nauru. Ethical conflicts erupt for doctors working within this offshore system when the Australian government overrides their clinical decisions made for refugee patients. The government believes following doctors' requests to transfer critically ill patients to specialist care in Australia would weaken Australia's border protection system.