The American Medical Association (AMA), the professional body for doctors in the United States, is supporting calls for a new investigation into whether doctors were complicit in the torture of prisoners held by US military forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

James Rohack, chairman of the AMA's trustees, has written to the US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, supporting a recommendation by the US army investigator, Major General George Fay, for an inquiry into the possible failure of medical professionals “to properly document and report the abuse” of detainees.

The association, which can …