Guantanamo: a call for action: Good men need to do something

doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7545.854-c

BMJ 2006;332:854-855 (8 April), doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7545.854-c

Letter

Guantanamo: a call for action

Good men need to do something

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

EDITOR—I agree with Wilks that the declarations of theWorld Medical Association in relation to force feeding of hungerstrikers will have limited effect unless national medical associationsare willing to make their members accountable when practicedeparts from principles.¹ Sadly, it has not been my recent experiencethat national medical associations and the medical establishmentare prepared fully to investigate such breaches.

In response to our letter,² Duane Cady (the chair of the AmericanMedical Association, AMA) issued a press statement confirmingthe AMA's endorsement of the Declaration of Tokyo, yet statingthat the AMA is not a regulatory or licensing agency.³ Althoughthis is factually correct, it is not sufficient for the AMAto avoid this issue when some of its own members have been involvedwith force feeding in Guantanamo. Clearly, the AMA needs toinvestigate such serious allegations when the individuals concernedare in . . . [Full text of this article]