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LETTERS: David J Nicholl Guantanamo: a call for action: Good men need to do something BMJ 2006; 332: 854-c-855-c [Full text]

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“Eichmann 1: Nuremberg 0”.

AM Rouse   (22 April 2006)

“Eichmann 1: Nuremberg 0”. 22 April 2006
AM Rouse, Consultant Heart of Birmingham PCT. B16 9PA Send response to journal: Re: “Eichmann 1: Nuremberg 0”.	How Eichmann must be smiling or “Eichmann 1: Nuremberg 0”. Last year a RAF officer (Dr KS) refused to obey an order. As a result he was sent to prison last week. This letter isn’t to argue that this officer didn’t deserve this fate. Perhaps he does. Perhaps it was a lawful order that he disobeyed and perhaps he is the most cowardly, snivelling unpatriotic officer ever to have enlisted. This letter seeks to remind readers that Dr KS was imprisoned not for any of these reasons but because, in the words of Judge Advocate Bayliss, "Those who wear the Queen's uniform cannot pick and choose which orders they obey....". Coming just 60 years after Nuremberg it is sad to note not only does Judge Bayliss’s opinion validate Eichmann’s famous, “I was just following orders” defence, but that our profession’s leaders appear to have fled the scene of this conflict and responded with an horrific silence. I may be wrong but I see no signs that our lauded institutions intend to fight the independence of our profession and the right of doctors to “question orders”. Do our leaders not remember that we are a profession with an absolute responsibility, “never to do harm” and “keep from all intentional ill-doing?”. Do they not realise that Bayliss’s decision guarantees that military doctors will gestate into a tribe of Mengele’s? Will 13/04 go down in history as the date that doctors became licensed state inquisitors? It is apparent that we live in a degenerate world where it is no longer a criminal offence for a doctor to humiliate, force feed, poison, mutilate and assist in killing prisoners - as long as s/he is following orders. However this does not mean that it is too late for our ermined and OBEed leaders to nullify the effects of Judge Baylis’s decision. For instance, the General Medical Council (who so easily could have introduced regulations which would have averted the military vs. Dr KS confrontation) could pass regulations to ensure that Mengele’s never practice medicine again. For instance, a regulation could make it an act of “serious professional misconduct” for any registered doctor to work, assist or support a doctor who has engaged in medically unethical acts whilst in the military. But I must not single out the GMC for tardiness. Surely the BMA has a huge part to play? But will it raise its voice? I suspect not. In fact I bet £10,000 that even by month’s end the Association will have no taken action to withhold its support of the military until the “Eichmann quandary” has been resolved. Surely we must support our unfortunate colleagues so that, in future, every doctor working for the military can honestly say, ”In every house where I come I will enter only for the good of my patients, keeping myself far from all intentional ill-doing” Competing interests: None declared