Ethics abandoned
Subtitle: medical professionalism and detainee abuse in the war on terror
Publisher: Institute on Medicine as a Profession, Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons
Published: 2013
Place of publication: New York, NY
Language: eng
Number of pages: 268
Subjects: Rules and practice; Evaluation; Medical ethics; Medical Ethics; Torture; Government policy; Moral and ethical aspects; Political prisoners; Abuse of; Prisoners of war; Medical personnel; Professional ethics; Military Medicine; War on Terrorism, 2001-2009; Ethics; United States. Department of Defense; United States; United States. Central Intelligence Agency
Other titles: Medical professionalism and detainee abuse in the war on terror
Description: This report finds that health professionals designed and participated in cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment of U.S. military detainees. The core principles of medicine require physicians to protect patients from "harm and injustice," to respect confidentiality, and to never take advantage of vulnerable patients. But the Central Intelligence Agency and the Department of Defense instructed physicians and other health professionals to disregard these principles while supervising detainees held by the United States in the so-called 'war on terror.' Ethics Abandoned, a report by a 20-person task force of physicians, lawyers, and human rights experts, has found that health professionals: Aided cruel and degrading interrogations; Helped devise and implement practices designed to maximize disorientation and anxiety so as to make detainees more malleable for interrogation; and Participated in the application of excruciatingly painful methods of force-feeding of mentally competent detainees carrying out hunger strikes.
Notes: "A task force report funded by IMAP/OSF."

"November 2013."

Includes bibliographical references.
Table of contents: title: Executive summary.; title: Introduction.; title: The role of health professionals in abuse of prisoners in U.S. custody.; title: Organizational structures and policies that directed the role of health professionals in detainee abuse.; title: Hunger strikes and force-feeding.; title: Education and training of military physicians on treatment of prisoners.; title: Health professional accountability for acts of torture through state licensing and discipline.; title: Task force member biographies.; title: Appendices.; title: Notes.