153 doctors denounce Guantanamo medical treatment in letter to Obama
**Embargoed: 00:01 [BST], Wednesday 19 June**
In an open letter published today in The Lancet medical journal, 153 doctors have called on President Obama to respond to a request from hunger-striking detainees asking for independent medical assistance in Guantanamo Bay.
Detainees recently wrote a letter from 13 hunger strikers to their military doctors, in which they pleaded for access to independent medical advice and examination, saying that it was impossible for them to trust military doctors who are engaged in degrading and painful force-feeding.
Responding to the detainees‘ letter, the doctors write in The Lancet that, “Without trust, safe and acceptable medical care of mentally competent patients is impossible. Since [the detainees on hunger strike] do not trust their military doctors, they are unlikely to comply with current medical advice. That makes it imperative for them to have access to independent medical examination and advice, as they ask, and as required by the UN and World Medical Association… We endorse their request, and are prepared to visit them under appropriate conditions, to assist in their recovery and release.”
The hunger strike at the prison is now entering its fifth month, with the majority of the detainees taking part in protest at their indefinite detention. Up to 43 men are being force-fed, with growing numbers of medical professionals expressing concerns in recent weeks that strikers are not receiving an adequate, or humane, standard of medical care while being treated by military physicians. Meanwhile, concerns are growing that detainees are being force-fed Reglan, a potent drug that can cause serious neurological disorders.
Cori Crider, Reprieve’s Strategic Director and Guantanamo attorney, said: “The doctors in Guantanamo are being asked to do terrible things by the US military – things which may haunt them for the rest of their lives. Shaker Aamer and Nabil Hadjarab can’t trust their doctors because of what they’ve been co-opted into. We’re very grateful that independent doctors have stepped forward to help, but fundamentally Barack Obama needs to realise that this is the greatest crisis in Guantanamo of his presidency and start treating it as such. The men who have been cleared for release must go home to their families at once.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
1. For further information please contact Clemency Wells in Reprieve’s press office, on: +44 (0) 207 553 8161 / clemency.wells@reprieve.org.uk
2. For full Correspondence, see: http://press.thelancet.com/guantanamoletter.pdf
3. For linked Lancet World Report, see: http://press.thelancet.com/guantanamoWR.pdf
4. The doctors‘ letter was initiated by Medact, a charity that defends human rights to health and healthcare.
5. The letter from the 13 detainees to their military doctors can be found here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/31/guantanamo-bay-hunger-strikers-doctors-letter
6. For further information on the use of Reglan in force-feeding see: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/2013/06/2013616142446812855.html