AMA calls for inquiry into doctors' role in abuse of prisoners
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《英国医生杂志》
The American Medical Association (AMA), the professional body for doctors in the United States, is supporting calls for a new investigation into whether doctors were complicit in the torture of prisoners held by US military forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.
James Rohack, chairman of the AMA's trustees, has written to the US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, supporting a recommendation by the US army investigator, Major General George Fay, for an inquiry into the possible failure of medical professionals "to properly document and report the abuse" of detainees.
The association, which can censure, suspend, or expel any member found to have violated its principles of medical ethics, has offered any such inquiry its expertise in professional ethics and clinical medicine.
The association has given a copy of its letter to Mr Rumsfeld to the BMA and the UK based charity Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, which made it public this week.
The move follows publication of articles in the New England Journal of Medicine ( 2004;351: 415-6) and the Lancet ( 2004;364: 725-9) reporting evidence of direct medical involvement in the torture of prisoners by US military forces and indirect involvement in the planning of sophisticated psychological and physical techniques used against detainees.
The BMA and the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture wrote to the AMA in August asking it to take disciplinary action against medical professionals found to have been involved in torturing prisoners ( BMJ 2004;329: 472, 28 Aug). The letter stated: "It now appears that the system of torture at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, in Afghanistan (and probably at Guantánamo Bay) has corrupted a number of American medical professionals working for, or with, the US military."
It continued: "Lest the healing profession be accused of doing further harm, it is incumbent on the medical profession and medical establishment in general, and in our view, on the American Medical Association in particular, to take disciplinary action against any of its own who have knowingly violated the basic principles of medical ethics."
An Iraqi detainee at the Abu Ghraib prison is restrained after suffering injuries to both legs, possibly as a result of dog bites
Credit: WASHINGTON POST/GETTY IMAGES
Sherman Carroll, a spokes-person for the medical foundation, said: "We are pleased that the AMA, which, in the past has made forceful policy statements against torture, has shown its willingness to help arrive at the truth. The onus is now on the US military and civil authorities to initiate a thorough investigation of such alleged ethical and criminal abuses as falsifying death certificates."
Michael Wilks, chairman of the BMA's ethics committee, added: "The BMA fully supports the AMA in its call for an investigation into these serious accusations."(Susan Mayor)
James Rohack, chairman of the AMA's trustees, has written to the US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, supporting a recommendation by the US army investigator, Major General George Fay, for an inquiry into the possible failure of medical professionals "to properly document and report the abuse" of detainees.
The association, which can censure, suspend, or expel any member found to have violated its principles of medical ethics, has offered any such inquiry its expertise in professional ethics and clinical medicine.
The association has given a copy of its letter to Mr Rumsfeld to the BMA and the UK based charity Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, which made it public this week.
The move follows publication of articles in the New England Journal of Medicine ( 2004;351: 415-6) and the Lancet ( 2004;364: 725-9) reporting evidence of direct medical involvement in the torture of prisoners by US military forces and indirect involvement in the planning of sophisticated psychological and physical techniques used against detainees.
The BMA and the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture wrote to the AMA in August asking it to take disciplinary action against medical professionals found to have been involved in torturing prisoners ( BMJ 2004;329: 472, 28 Aug). The letter stated: "It now appears that the system of torture at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, in Afghanistan (and probably at Guantánamo Bay) has corrupted a number of American medical professionals working for, or with, the US military."
It continued: "Lest the healing profession be accused of doing further harm, it is incumbent on the medical profession and medical establishment in general, and in our view, on the American Medical Association in particular, to take disciplinary action against any of its own who have knowingly violated the basic principles of medical ethics."
An Iraqi detainee at the Abu Ghraib prison is restrained after suffering injuries to both legs, possibly as a result of dog bites
Credit: WASHINGTON POST/GETTY IMAGES
Sherman Carroll, a spokes-person for the medical foundation, said: "We are pleased that the AMA, which, in the past has made forceful policy statements against torture, has shown its willingness to help arrive at the truth. The onus is now on the US military and civil authorities to initiate a thorough investigation of such alleged ethical and criminal abuses as falsifying death certificates."
Michael Wilks, chairman of the BMA's ethics committee, added: "The BMA fully supports the AMA in its call for an investigation into these serious accusations."(Susan Mayor)