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In the case of force-feeding, the perceived authority of the medical profession can lend legitimacy to the unethical actions of physicians. Dr. Michael Grodin, an expert on torture and bioethicist and psychiatrist at Boston University Schools of Public Health and Medicine, agreed to discuss the Guantánamo hunger strikes with P.H. Part of a team representing two prisoners at Guantánamo, Dr. Grodin is outspoken on the issue of physician participation. When asked about the DOD’s justifi cation for medical offi cials administering forcefeeding, Dr. Grodin asserted, “That is the reason why physicians shouldn’t be involved. It legitimizes that which otherwise would not be legitimate.”

In addition to other ethical justifi cations, the DOD argues that the policy at Guantánamo is compatible with federal prison regulations. “There is a big difference,” Dr. Grodin points out, “between Guantánamo and the federal prisons in the fact that the civilian prisoners have access to legal counsel…and access to independent doctors.” Federal prisoners are entitled to due process and have the right to habeas corpus, “whereas the Guantánamo detainees have none of that, which makes them incredibly vulnerable.”

The Military Commissions Act signed into law in October 2006, strips prisoners at Guantánamo of the right to habeas corpus. According to Dr. Grodin, this new act increases the importance of military physicians as advocates for their patients. “If you don’t have habeas corpus then you don’t have any legal protections. And then one of the primary protections you have is your doctor.” For prisoners at Guantánamo, doctors may be the last line of defense. When military physicians abandon patient advocacy due to pressure from their superiors, prisoners become even more vulnerable. Dr. Grodin says, “if your doctor is not there to represent you and support you, then you really have nobody to protect you.”

A major call to action has come from the medical community to sanction military physicians practicing force-feeding at Guantánamo. Over 250 doctors signed a letter to the British medical journal Lancet that denounced physician participation and called for “techniques such as force-feeding and restraint chairs to be abandoned forthwith in accordance with internationally agreed standards.”

Continued
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