America
Role of doctors, lawyers in CIA tortures condemned
Washington, June 12
Doctors, psychologists
and lawyers played a key role in rationalising torture methods
practised in clandestine CIA detention centres, according to an article
published in the US-based New England Journal of Medicine.
The
publication based its article on data from a report last year by the US
Senate Select Committee on Intelligence that revealed CIA tortures
during the presidency of George W. Bush.
"The report adds to our
knowledge of how lawyers and physicians can collaborate with each other
to rationalise torture -- a dynamic that has also played out in military
prisons, including Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, and even in some US
prisons, especially supermax prisons and others that rely heavily on
solitary confinement," doctors George Annas and Sondra Crosby wrote in
their article.
Physicians got involved to determine whether the
terrorists were "medically fit for torture" to avoid deaths and finally
to oversee the healing of the prisoners.
According to the journal, the physicians were also involved in devising new torture methods.
The
article says the CIA and Justice Department lawyers assured doctors of
immunity under a legal cover tailored to cover these practices.
"Physicians
and lawyers consistently gave themselves permission to do whatever they
agreed among themselves," the contribution said.
One of the
torture methods was rectal feeding conducted on prisoners who were on
hunger strike, to demonstrate dominance over the inmate.
Following
the publication of the Senate report, Bush's vice president, Dick
Cheney, had argued that rectal feeding was "done for medical reasons".
However,
the journal points out that "there is, of course, no medical indication
for rectal feeding", and emphasises that "the fact that it was done by
or under the supervision of a physician cannot convert this torture
technique into a medical procedure".
"Beyond the elimination of
black sites, attorneys will have to stand with physicians who want to
maintain their ethics (and follow, among other legal standards, the
Geneva Conventions), support health professionals in their refusal to
torture and refuse to give CIA agents and contractors prospective legal
immunity for violating human rights laws," says the report.
"And
in all contexts, physicians should act only in ways consistent with good
and accepted medical practice, with the consent of their patients,"
concludes the article.
Crosby led the Boston Center for Refugee Health and Human Rights and Annas teaches bioethics at Boston University.