Medical profession must dissociate itself from torture and actively investigate and sanction offenders
Published: Thursday, 31-Jul-2008
Doctors who assist in torture or other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment should face prosecution and licensing punishments, says an editorial on BMJ.com.
Steven Miles from the Center for Bioethics at the University of Minnesota, says that more doctors are involved in torturing prisoners than in treating torture survivors. But doctors who assist in torture rarely face professional consequences. He argues that the medical profession must not only dissociate itself from torture but actively investigate and sanction offenders.
More than 100 countries condone the use of torture and up to half of torture survivors report that a doctor was present and oversaw the abuse.
Miles points out that while medical societies are quick to condemn doctors participating in torture abroad, they are not so vocal when it comes to what is taking place in their own country ...
http://www.news-medical.net/?id=40440