Evidence about the role of American physicians, clinical psychologists, and other health professionals in abuse and coercive interrogation at military detention sites has been accumulating slowly but incontrovertibly in the wake of the War on Terror. In August 2009, Physicians for Human Rights released its most recent report describing in detail how the CIA relied on medical expertise to rationalize, plan, and carry out unlawful interrogations at detention sites. Licensed health professionals observed physically abusive interrogation sessions and advised on how to increase the prisoner’s suffering. They kept records of waterboarding, and consulted medical literature on hypothermia to determine “precise gradations” of the procedure. When not aiding “coercive interrogations” directly, health professionals were still involved in facilitating and monitoring them, and also observed clear medical evidence of abuse without intervening — practices that subverted and violated well-established medical ethical obligations, to say nothing of the Geneva Conventions, the U.S. Constitution, and U.S. military law (JAMA).
To date, the U.S. has barely begun to address the gravity of what has taken place. In the absence of a meaningful national response, medical professional organizations and the legislatures of individual states are stepping up to the challenge. With the introduction of the Gottfried-Duane Bill in the State Assembly and State Senate, New York is posed to become the first state in the country to explicitly prohibit health professionals licensed in the state from assisting in torture, interrogations, and prisoner abuse, while providing them with strong legal protection to resist any future coercion to participate in such acts.
The bill is meant to stop physician-assisted torture ever becoming a reality again, as well as to help health professionals address abuse and medical neglect of prisoners in domestic jails and detention centers. Co-sponsored by 30 members of the State Assembly from both parties, the bill was favorably reported by Assembly committees last year, and is currently being revised in preparation for the floor vote. It is supported by the NY state chapter of the American College of Physicians; by nursing, psychology, and social work associations; and by civil liberties and human rights advocacy groups.
More on the Gottfried-Duane Bill, and why you should care, after the jump.

Click here to sign PHR’s petition in support of the Gottffried-Duane bill.
(There is a link for out-of-staters to show solidarity, too.)
StopTortureNY.org
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