Do no harm

27 Jun
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It's about time:

When Steven H. Miles, an expert in medical ethics and an advocate for human rights, learned of the neglect, mistreatment, and torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay, and elsewhere, one of his first thoughts was: "Where were the prison doctors while the abuses were taking place?"


In "Oath Betrayed," Miles explains the answer to this question. Not only were doctors, nurses, and medics silent while prisoners were abused; physicians and psychologists provided information that helped determine how much and what kind of mistreatment could be delivered to detainees during interrogation. Additionally, these harsh examinations were monitored by health professionals operating under the purview of the U.S. military.

I’m glad somebody finally wrote a hard-hitting investigation into this. The debate on medical ethics in the context of GWoT has always worn on my conscience. Between torture, force-feeding, etc., I’ve been wondering how medical professional justify their acquiescence in the face of ‘do no harm’.

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