Physicians for Human Rights
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MA Anti-Torture Legislation Memorandum of Support
PHR strongly supports Massachusetts bill H.3361 (Lewis) and S.1090 (Eldridge), “An Act to Prohibit the Participation of Health Care Professionals in the Torture and Abusive Treatment of Prisoners,” which will subject to professional sanctions any Massachusetts-licensed health care professionals who participate in the torture or abusive treatment and interrogation of prisoners. It will also require health care professionals to report instances of torture or abusive treatment of prisoners, and provide protection for those professionals who refuse to participate in prohibited acts or who investigate them.
Dual Loyalties
Health professionals who work in the immigration detention system are bound by the same standards of conduct that apply to the treatment of patients in private clinics and hospitals: to treat their duty to patient as their first priority and to always act in the best interests of the patient. However, this duty becomes severely compromised when the interests of their employer intrude upon or directly conflict with the needs of patients.
Experiments in Torture
Following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Bush administration initiated new human intelligence collection programs. As part of these programs, the Bush administration redefined acts that had previously been recognized as illegal, to be "safe, legal and effective" "enhanced" interrogation techniques (EITs).
Amicus Brief in Support of Prevention of Coercive Confinement in Domestic Incarceration
PHR has done considerable research on the impact of psychological torture techniques used by US personnel on terrorist suspect detainees and has now applied that work in a new context: Domestic US incarceration and treatment of prisoners.
Aiding Torture: Health Professionals' Ethics and Human Rights Violations Demonstrated in the May 2004 CIA Inspector General's Report
This 6-page white paper shows that the extent to which American doctors and psychologists violated human rights and betrayed the ethical standards of their professions by designing, implementing, and legitimizing a worldwide torture program, is worse than previously known.
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