Prevention of torture by doctors and organisations

In the USA, reports from the International Committee of the Red Cross, Human Rights Watch, and US military personnel showed that health professionals falsified death certificates, failed to accurately report illnesses and injuries, and helped to design, approve, and monitor interrogations.6 In Sri L...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Lancet (British edition) 2011-12, Vol.378 (9809), p.e22-e23
Main Authors: Augustin, Yolanda Sydney, Birch, Marion, Bodini, Chiara, Boulton, Frank, Robertson, Elicia, Spada, Valentina Maria, Weingarten, Miri
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bioethical Issues
Case studies
Human rights
Human Rights Abuses - prevention & control
Humans
Internal Medicine
Physicians
Societies, Medical
Torture
Torture - statistics & numerical data
United Nations
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Summary:In the USA, reports from the International Committee of the Red Cross, Human Rights Watch, and US military personnel showed that health professionals falsified death certificates, failed to accurately report illnesses and injuries, and helped to design, approve, and monitor interrogations.6 In Sri Lanka, the Judicial Medical Officers had inadequate resources to undertake most autopsies, and obstacles to a prompt and effective examination meant that "too much evidence simply bleeds out onto the floor".7 In the UK, evidence to the Baha Mousa Inquiry noted that there was apparently "a remarkable level of ignorance about the rules applicable to the health care of detainees".8 Most submissions by 222 former inmates of UK Joint Services Intelligence Organisation facilities indicate that military doctors took no interest in their injuries.9 In Italy, people arrested during demonstrations at the G8 summit in Genoa in 2001 suffered serious, systematic, and protracted inhumane and degrading treatment at the hands of health personnel.10 In Israel, there is evidence that health professionals have failed to oppose, accurately document, and report, evidence or suspicion of torture of the detainees they examine and treat.11-13 Recommendations are made for national medical associations and the WMA, including education in relevant diagnostic skills with materials such as the practical diagnosis manual Atlas of torture14 from the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, and in ethical duties to help physicians to develop confidence in confronting scepticism, opposition, or authoritarian denial.
ISSN:0140-6736
1474-547X
DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(11)61300-7