Medical Care for Interned Enemy Aliens: A Role for the US Public Health Service in World War II

• Published in: American journal of public health (1971) Vol. 93; no. 10; pp. 1644 - 1654
• Main Author: Fiset, Louis
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC Am Public Health Assoc 01-10-2003; American Public Health Association; American Journal of Public Health 2003
• Subjects: Altruism; Biological and medical sciences; Border patrol; Camps; Civilians; Communicable Disease Control; Delivery of Health Care; Emigration and Immigration; Epidemics; German people; Germany - ethnology; Health care; Health services; History, 20th Century; Hospitals; Humans; Immigration; Imprisonment; Italian people; Italy - ethnology; Japan - ethnology; Japanese Americans; Japanese people; Medical sciences; Noncitizens; Prevention and actions; Prisoner treatment; Prisoners; Prisoners of war; Prisoners of war & missing in action; Prisons; Public health; Public health agencies; Public Health Then and Now; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Sanitation; Specific populations (family, woman, child, elderly...); United States; United States Government Agencies; United States Public Health Service - organization & administration; USA; Warfare; World War 2; World War II; World; Human; War; Health service; Carceral environment; Mentally ill commitment; Public health
• ISSN: 0090-0036; 1541-0048
• DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.93.10.1644

During World War II, the US Public Health Service (USPHS) administered health care to 19 000 enemy aliens and Axis merchant seamen interned by the Justice Department through its branch, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). The Geneva Prisoners of War Convention of 1929, which the United States applied to civilian internees, provided guidelines for belligerent nations regarding humanitarian treatment of prisoners of war, including for their health. The INS forged an agreement with the USPHS to meet these guidelines for the German, Italian, and Japanese internees and, in some cases, their families. Chronic shortages and crowded camps continuously challenged USPHS administrators. Nevertheless, the USPHS offered universal access to care and provided treatment often exceeding care received by many American citizens.