Public Health Minute: Annas Denounces Force Feeding of Guantanamo Prisoners

By busph ()

On February 23, 2010, George Annas, professor and chair of health law, bioethics & human rights, led a panel discussion at Boston University School of Public Health addressing the role physicians play in force feeding hunger strikers at Guantanamo [...]Bay detention center, as well as in U.S. prisons.

The participation of physicians in the practice is an issue that some BUSPH faculty have taken the lead in opposing for years. In wake of the first anniversary of a report ordered by President Obama on conditions at Guantanamo, the group renewed its call for an end to the practice.

The experts appealed to their colleagues and the public-at-large to put pressure on policy makers to end the practice, and urged professional medical associations to hold physicians accountable for participating in a practice that the World Medical Association, the American Medical Association, and other medical groups have also opposed.

Listen to Annas discuss the ethics of a physician force feeding a competent, informed prisoner who refuses food as a form of protest or demand for a legitimate purpose.

You can read more about the panel discussion in "BUSPH Faculty Call for Action to End Force-Feeding of GITMO and U.S. Hunger Strikers" http://bit.ly/aDSh9u.
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