By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
    Health
    Healthcare organizations are operating on slimmer profit margins than ever. One report in August showed that they are even lower than the beginning of the…
    Show More
    Top News
    grief
    Coping With Depression from Loss After a Preventable Accident
    November 14, 2024
    medical research
    The Key to Medical Progress in Clinical Trials
    March 13, 2025
    HIPPA compliance
    How Medical Office Staff Can Make Your Practice HIPAA Compliant
    October 29, 2021
    Latest News
    7 Most Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs: Which Should You Use?
    August 20, 2025
    Hospital Pest Control and the Fight Against Superbugs
    August 20, 2025
    Hygiene Beyond The Clinic: Attention To Overlooked Non-Clinical Spaces
    August 13, 2025
    5 Steps to a Promising Career as a Healthcare Administrator
    August 3, 2025
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
    Policy and Law
    Get the latest updates about Insurance policies and Laws in the Healthcare industry for different geographical locations.
    Show More
    Top News
    Image
    Emergency Room – Don’t Use It For Primary Care!
    March 19, 2013
    Encouraging Medicare News From Senate Republicans
    March 17, 2012
    chronic disease
    Lifestyles Cause Most Serious Disease and Deaths
    May 25, 2013
    Latest News
    How Social Security Disability Shapes Access to Care and Everyday Health
    August 22, 2025
    How a DUI Lawyer Can Help When Your Future Health Feels Uncertain
    August 22, 2025
    How One Fall Can Lead to a Long Road of Medical Complications
    August 22, 2025
    How IT and Marketing Teams Can Collaborate to Protect Patient Trust
    July 17, 2025
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Force-Feeding Guantanamo Prisoners Tortures Medical Profession
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > Policy & Law > Medical Ethics > Force-Feeding Guantanamo Prisoners Tortures Medical Profession
Medical EthicsPolicy & Law

Force-Feeding Guantanamo Prisoners Tortures Medical Profession

Michael Kirsch
Michael Kirsch
Share
5 Min Read
medical ethics
SHARE

medical ethicsNearly every physician regards himself as an ethical practitioner. Nearly none of us are, at least not fully. There is no bright line that separates ethical from improper behavior. Indeed, it is because the boundary is fuzzy that ethicists and the rest of us wrestle with contentious controversies. It is, therefore, expected that ethicists are divided on many issues, much as the U.S.

medical ethicsNearly every physician regards himself as an ethical practitioner. Nearly none of us are, at least not fully. There is no bright line that separates ethical from improper behavior. Indeed, it is because the boundary is fuzzy that ethicists and the rest of us wrestle with contentious controversies. It is, therefore, expected that ethicists are divided on many issues, much as the U.S. Supreme Court is often split in its decisions. If the Court’s cases were easily decided, then most of its decisions would be unanimous. 

While there are some bedrock ethical principles that should remain immutable, the field needs some breathing space to accommodate to societal changes and new research findings. Analogously, the Constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment, but the definition of this evolves, so that today’s court may decide a punishment issue differently from its predecessors. Similarly, it is possible that an issue deemed ethical today, might be considered unethical tomorrow.

Medical professionals confront ethical tension regularly. These situations can be tough to navigate through as a physician weighs one person’s rights against another. If a doctor ‘modifies’ a diagnostic code so that an insurance company will pay the bill instead of the unemployed factory worker, has an ethical foul been committed? Is dispensing free drug samples, beloved by patients, ethical as this increases costs and raises drug prices for other patients? Is it ethical for a medical specialist to withhold from his patient that his primary care physician is mediocre and there are superior alternatives available? If a sick patient won’t pay his bills, under what circumstances, if any, can the physician ethically terminate the relationship?

More Read

What Will a Whole Foods Health Clinic Look Like?
Herbal Supplements and Dentistry
NYMIIS: Medical Imaging and Meaningful Use – It Is No Longer an Option
Ebola Hysteria in Ohio
Kratom – a Solution for Opioid Addiction?

There have been physicians present during enhanced interrogation events (read: torture) ostensibly to guide interrogators against causing permanent serious injury or worse. Perhaps, these physicians have rationalized their role to be protectors of detainees, but this is nonsensical. This role is so far removed from the medical profession’s healing mission, that it deserves no debate. Indeed, this practice tortures the medical profession that is under oath to heal and comfort the sick, not to provide flimsy cover to ‘interrogators’. 

I am not opining here on whether protecting our national security requires enhanced interrogation techniques. I am stating that the medical profession should not participate in the sessions. As to whether physicians and psychologists should contribute to developing ‘interrogation’ techniques to ensure that they conform to our nation’s laws and values is grist for a true debate. Even if this preparatory training function were to be deemed ethical, I would never participate in it.

Physicians have been participating in force-feeding ‘detainees’ in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. It is wrong and unethical for a physician to have a role in force-feeding an individual who has the mental capacity to refuse medical care. I condemn this practice which tarnishes my profession and undermines the ethical scaffolding that supports and guides it. The World Medical Association, the American Medical Association and the British Medical Association have each firmly denounced force-feeding. Our military counters that the practice is legal and proper. If force-feeding is ethical, then why shouldn’t we extend the practice into our hospitals and nursing homes?

President Obama has stated, “I don’t want these individuals to die”, with regard to the Guantanamo detainees. If our Commander-in-Chief wants to force food down someone’s throat, he is free to give the order. But no doctor or nurse should carry it out. 

First published in The Plain Dealer on 9/6/13.

TAGGED:force-feedingGuantanamo
Share This Article
Facebook Copy Link Print
Share

Stay Connected

1.5kFollowersLike
4.5kFollowersFollow
2.8kFollowersPin
136kSubscribersSubscribe

Latest News

engineer fitting prosthetic arm
How Social Security Disability Shapes Access to Care and Everyday Health
Health care
August 20, 2025
a woman explaining the document
How a DUI Lawyer Can Help When Your Future Health Feels Uncertain
Public Health
August 20, 2025
physiotherapist at work
How One Fall Can Lead to a Long Road of Medical Complications
Health care
August 20, 2025
Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs
7 Most Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs: Which Should You Use?
Health News
August 20, 2025

You Might also Like

URAC Specialty Pharmacy Accreditation
BusinessPolicy & Law

URAC vs. PCAB Pharmacy Accreditation

January 21, 2015

Why Would Anyone Want to become a Physician?

July 21, 2011

Addressing Chronic Diseases Would Reduce Debt, Generate Savings

September 21, 2011
Health care

What is Patient-Centered Care and How Does it Benefit Healthcare Providers?

January 17, 2022
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!
Follow US
© 2008-2025 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?