"It's a real pickle of a situation," Buck told TIME on Friday, saying the program would make sense only if it were voluntary. "This is the first time the military has incorporated medicine into our plan of national defense," Buck said. "But there are three foundations in medicine —science, trust and patient rights — and the mandatory nature of this program violates all three of them."
Last fall, Buck declined to take the first in a series of six anthrax shots after being ordered to undergo vaccination before deploying to the Gulf state of Bahrain. "If I was in an area that was being attacked with anthrax, I would take the risk of taking it," Buck said. "But no place has ever been attacked."
The Air Force doctor was concerned by reports that troops taking the vaccine had complained of autoimmune disorder symptoms, including fatigue and joint pain, that they blamed on the mandatory medicine. "I told my commander I would sign a waiver, go without the vaccine — I was not trying to get out of my duty," Buck said. "I asked them not to put me in this position because I didn't want something like this to affect my ability to practice medicine for the rest of my life." He was charged with "willfully disobeying a lawful command of a senior commissioned officer."
The anthrax shots are the Pentagon's effort to protect troops against a biological warfare threat, especially in the Persian Gulf region where Saddam Hussein's military has previously used nerve agents against its own people, and has conducted research into anthrax and other biological-warfare toxins. Both the Defense Department and the Food and Drug Administration claim the military's vaccine is safe and effective. Although the overwhelming majority of troops ordered to take the shots have submitted to the order, nearly 500 have refused, earning courts-martial and dismissals from the military.
During Thursday's hearing at Keesler, Col. Richard Griffith, the Air Force doctor who ordered Buck to take the shots, said Buck was earnest as he disobeyed his direct order. "I believe he is very sincere, that he believes what he is doing is right," the senior doctor testified. "I do not believe he is trying to subvert the mission." A military hearing officer is expected to rule in the next week whether or not Buck will face a court-martial.
Buck, 32, attended the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio medical school on a military scholarship, and is obligated to serve for four years, through June 2002. In addition to jail time, if convicted, Buck also faces dismissal from the military and the loss of all pay and benefits. "The military medical community has a responsibility to look out after the interests of their troops," he said, but he doesn't go so far as to advocate that his fellow officers and troops do what he has done. "My colleagues are in complete support of me," Buck said. "But everybody has to make their own decision and I'm not encouraging anybody to follow the same steps I've taken."
That, of course, is something the Pentagon may fear even more than anthrax.