American Medical Association Questions Guantanamo Force-Feedings
Last edited Mon Apr 29, 2013, 07:21 PM - Edit history (1)
Source: Reuters
American Medical Association questions Guantanamo force-feedings
Mon Apr 29, 2013 8:58pm BST
By Jane Sutton
MIAMI (Reuters) - The Navy sent extra medical personnel to the Guantanamo detention camp because of a growing hunger strike, and the American Medical Association questioned whether doctors were being asked to violate their ethics by force-feeding prisoners.
The reinforcements arrived at the weekend and included about 40 nurses, specialists and hospital corpsmen, who are trained to provide basic medical care, Army Lieutenant Colonel Samuel House, a spokesman for the detention camp said, said on Monday.
He said 100 of the 166 detainees had joined a hunger strike that began in February to protest their continued detention at the Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base in eastern Cuba. Twenty-one of those had lost enough weight that they were being fed liquid supplements via tubes inserted in their noses and down into their stomachs, House said.
Five were in the hospital for observation but did not have life-threatening conditions, he said.
On Thursday, the president of the American Medical Association sent a letter to U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel reiterating its long-held position that it is a violation of medical ethics to force-feed mentally competent adults who refuse food and life-saving treatment.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE93S0VD20130429
SamKnause
(13,037 posts)There was an excellent segment on Democracy Now today about how the detainees are being treated.
http://democracynow.org/
AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)There's enough space so that multiple people can hold your head back while a tube is pushed up your nose and down your gullet. Now all that is required is to hold your head back, put a funnel in the tube, and start pouring down the liquid.
SoapBox
(18,791 posts)I'll just bet that the PukeBaggers and War Hawks would let THEM die.