Medical involvement in torture today?

The ethics of medical involvement in torture.

The difficulties of establishing a definition of torture are discussed, and a definition is suggested. It is then argued that, irrespective of general ethical questions, doctors in particular should never be involved because of their social role.

The ethics of medical involvement in torture: commentary.

Author's abstract Torture does need to be defined ifwe are to know exactly what we are seeking to ban; but no single definition will do, because there are many possible ones, and we may want to treat different practices that might be called torture differently. Compare the case ofhomicide; we do not want to punish manslaughter as severely as murder, and may not want to punish killing in self-de...

Doctors' involvement in torture.

Doctors from both non-democratic and democratic countries are involved in torture. The majority of doctors involved in torture are doctors at risk. Doctors at risk might compromise their ethical duty towards patients for the following possible reasons: individual factors (such as career, economic or ideological reasons), threats, orders from a higher ranking officer, political initiatives, work...

The Nazi doctors trial and the international prohibition on medical involvement in torture.

Ending medical complicity in state-sponsored torture.

Since Sept 11, 2001, state-sponsored torture has become increasingly accepted and institutionalised, despite its clear illegality; it is now practised in over 100 countries, including 14 of the G20 nations. Physicians’ involvement in torture is especially worrisome, with Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo Bay serving as well-publicised contemporary examples. In the so-called War on Terror, medical compl...