The American Medical Association (AMA) has issued a statement expressing concerns about the ethical implications of force-feeding hunger striking detainees at Guantanamo Bay, as Pentagon officials finally admitted to at least 100 people being involved in the ongoing strike.
The AMA letter reiterated its long-standing position that force-feeding mentally competent adults is unethical, but stopped short of calling on the Pentagon to stop their force-feedings of detainees, simply urging them to address the situation of asking doctors to violate their own ethical standards by participating.
The Pentagon announced another 40 medical personnel have been deployed to the island prison to deal with the growing health crisis that has over half of detainees refusing to eat.
The strikers include not only suspects but also people who have been cleared for release, with many believing that the US never intends to let them go under any circumstances and that their only way out is death.
What a great training opportunity! Medical auxiliaries will gain valuable experience inserting NG tubes in real people instead of mannikins and cadavers. I'm sure they won't bother to tell the willing volunteers that this is a procedure not indicated for conscious individuals and that it violates the "standard of care" so often touted. A new generation of Mengele medical assistants is in the offing, and of course, they're no doubt engulfed by patriotic zeal at the opportunity to provide humanitarian assistance. How much sicker can we possibly get? Apparently, we're nowhere near the limit.
It gives the 'goons' something to do to further the development of their PTSD claims.
CommonDreams — Jusr now
DeLespinasse Paul
Hunger strikes are attempts to force someone or some organization to do something the strikers want. If a hunger striker dies, the responsibility for his/her death lies with the striker, not with the people against whom the strike was conducted.
Many of those who are objecting to forced feeding in this case would probably be the first to condemn the U.S. government if someone died because they had not been force-fed.
It may be fair to blame the government for unjustly holding someone in prison (though in wars justice is a slippery concept and a lot of bad things are done all around), but still not fair to blame that government for causing the death of a hunger-striker.
LIGHT
In response I take the 6th,
"Do not take the life of any human
or unborn baby, or in anyway
contribute to their death. "
The American people should have stood up to Bush and Rumsfeld when they put detainees at Gitmo after 9/11. This place is an embarrassment to all Americans. The Pentagon has spent billions maintianing this antiquated behemoth.Once it was opened, it should have been closed in 2006 when Rumsfeld was fired.
"Medical reinforcements" golden.