Terror Medicine: Birth of a Discipline

Increased global terrorism has given rise to unique medical requirements that may be described as terror medicine. Using Israeli experience as a reference base, this paper notes four broad areas of terror medicine: preparedness, incident management, mechanisms of injuries and responses, and psychological consequences. Whether terror medicine is treated as a stand-alone discipline or part of disaster medicine, or of a larger enterprise like public health, its parameters should be understood and taught. Efforts to discourage and prevent terrorist attacks should be among a society’s highest priorities. No less important are the requirements to prepare for, respond to, and recover from these events. The more that individuals and institutions become familiar with the essentials of terror medicine, the greater the protection they can provide to the public.