263 doctors have signed a
letter appearing in The Lancet. (Free registration required.)
The letter is short and direct.
The World Medical Association specifically prohibits forcefeeding in the Declarations of Tokyo and Malta, to which the American Medical Association is a signatory.
More below.
Fundamental to doctors' responsibilities in attending a hunger striker is the recognition that prisoners have a right to refuse treatment.
Professional bodies of signatory countries are required to 'hold to account' those failing to observe patients' rights. As the letter points out, UK physicians have observed the right of refusal of treatment in very difficult circumstances, to the point of allowing IRA prisoners to starve to death when that was their wish.
Former Guantanamo hospital commander John Edmondson and the current Ronald Sollock are called out by name, and Edmondson's claim that forcefeeding is legitimate because ordered by lawful authority gets this response:
This defence, which has previously been described as the Nuremberg defence, is not defensible in law.
The letter comes very close to calling Edmondson a liar as well. It goes on to briefly describe conditions at Gitmo, reiterates that staff are chosen on the basis of their willingness to engage in these practices, and concludes:
We urge the US government to ensure that detainees are assessed by independent physicians and that techniques such as forcefeeding and restraint chairs are abandoned forthwith in accordance with internationally agreed standards.
Except for eight, signatures can only be viewed by paid subscribers.
A BBC piece on the letter describes them as coming from the UK, the US, Ireland, Germany, Australia, Italy and the Netherlands. The BBC spoke with one of the signers:
Dr David Nicholl, a UK neurologist who initiated the Lancet letter, told the BBC's World Today programme that US doctors going to Guantanamo Bay were being screened to ensure they agreed with the policy of force-feeding.
"In effect they are screened to make sure they don't have doctors with a conscience."
~~~~~
He said the definition of torture issued at the camp in 2002 as actions that caused only "death or major organ failure" was "not a definition anyone on the planet is using".
Questions: Does
The Lancet know about Godwin's Law? And how will we ever regain any sort of moral legitimacy? China now lectures the US on torture, and no amount of special pleading will change the opinion of millions upon millions that they are right to do so. On this, Chomsky is right: the United States is a rogue state.