As a former news photog, I've been there. I have and will dropped my gear and assignment(s) to help others in dire need. I do know other journalist and photojournalists who would never interfere and actually look down at me for not doing my job and for losing my status as an observer.
I feel for Carter. What they don't teach you in school is that you are as responsible for what you see as you are for what you do. Ultimately, all journalists/war correspondents will learn that lesson but, by the time it is learned it's too late to save themselves from all the faces from the stories. Like slivers of shrapnel from an old wound, working its way to the surface, the faces and images which are buried deep in our sub-conscience will slowly work their way to our conscience and the light of day. No rush, those faces have a lifetime, your lifetime, to remind you of what you saw. As a volunteer, you never really had to be there, you didn't have to be at that place, at that time, just to see what you thought you had to see.
Gary