BMJ  2003;327:1107 (8 November), doi:10.1136/bmj.327.7423.1107

Letter

Medical ethics, the Israeli Medical Association, and the state of the World Medical Association

IMA president's response to open letter to the BMA

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—On reading Summerfield's recent open letter I was astounded by the lengths to which he will go in besmirching Israel and the Israel Medical Association (IMA).¹

Summerfield begins by discussing a "collusion of doctors with torture" that does not exist and about which he has yet to make more than a blanket accusation. I repeat, for the hundredth time, that the IMA and I as its president oppose torture in any form.

As to Summerfield's accusations regarding medical neutrality: rather than showing "blatant and systematic disregard," IDF soldiers do the best they can to uphold human rights under very difficult conditions of constant terror attacks (including numerous "near attacks") on Israeli civilians. None the less, when specific incidents are brought to our attention regarding apparent violations of neutrality or medical ethics, the IMA tries to clarify the incident with the appropriate party, be it the army, hospital directors, . . . [Full text of this article]

Israel Medical Association, PO Box 3566, Ramat-Gan 52136, Israel malke@ima.org.il

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