BMJ  2004;329:1103 (6 November), doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7474.1103

Letter

Medical education should include human rights component

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

EDITOR—Two important issues emerge from the article by Forrest and Barrett on humanitarian medicine.¹

Firstly, the use of the terms "moderate physical pressure" or "torture lite" risks euphemising torture into acceptability. In 1976 the European Commission on Human Rights held that certain techniques used by the British security forces in Northern Ireland constituted torture.² These included forcing detainees to remain for some hours in a "stress position" and subjecting the detainee to continuous noise. The United Kingdom undertook not to use the techniques again. Doctors can see from this that the standards of international law regarding the prohibition of torture have been upheld even during a public emergency. The prohibition on states using torture is absolute, non-derogable, and unqualified.

Secondly, the international human right to the highest attainable standard of health is a measure which, by placing the patient's health as a doctor's prime concern, provides a legal . . . [Full text of this article]

Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire WD5 0BE member@helenbygrave.wanadoo.co.uk

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