The long and bloody civil war in Syria brought many atrocities to light. One of them was the focus on medical professionals.
The same people who were attempting to heal and save the lives of people hurt in the war became targets for attack themselves. And that is not the only place in the world where that has happened.
Leonard Rubenstein, a human rights lawyer, documents more cases from around the world in his book Perilous Medicine: The Struggle to Protect Health Care from the Violence of War.
The author visits with a sobering recounting of people working to help fellow humans, and risking their own health and lives to do so.