Primum non nocere – doctors and torture Part IV

There are many reasons why doctors become involved in torture, ranging from workplace loyalty to threats of violence.
Some doctors work within a bureaucratic structure in which their loyalty to their employer is both assumed and expected. They may even become, as one report described it, ”cogs in a system of state terror”. Doctors may not [...]

Primum non nocere – doctors and torture. Part III

With the possible exception of the altering of death certificates, the recent transgressions of U.S. military doctors have apparently not been of this order. But these examples help us to recognize what doctors are capable of when placed in atrocity-producing situations. A recent statement by the Physicians for Human Rights addresses this vulnerability in declaring [...]

Primum non nocere – doctors and torture Part II

Various medical protocols — notably, the World Medical Association Declaration of Tokyo in 1975 — prohibit all three of these forms of medical complicity in torture. Moreover, the Hippocratic Oath declares, “I will use treatment to help the sick according to my ability and judgment, but never with a view to injury and wrongdoing.”
American [...]

Primum non nocere – doctors and torture. Part I

On July 2004 The New England Journal of Medicine, arguably the most prestigious medical journal in this country, presented an article “Doctors and Torture. Under normal circumstances this article should have provoked a heavy stream of media response, yet, our gutless news organizations quietly turned its attention to the victorious progress of our occupation of [...]