U.S. Army Military Police escort a detainee to his cell during in-processing to the temporary detention facility at Camp X-Ray in Naval Base Guantanamo Bay (Reuters)
What a sad world we live in, when a coalition of medical professionals has to issue a press release announcing this most obvious of obvious observations about so-called “anal feeding” of war-on-terror detainees.
From Physicians for Human Rights:
The Senate Torture Report revealed that CIA medical officers subjected at least five detainees to “rectal rehydration” and “rectal feeding.” The report indicates the rectal procedures were done without evidence of medical necessity, but rather as a means of behavior control. Leading medical experts denounced this practice not only as medically unwise, but as torture.
• “For all practical purposes, it’s never used. No one in the United States is hydrating anybody through their rectum. Nobody is feeding anybody through their rectum.” Thomas Burke, MD, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Attending Physician, Massachusetts General Hospital
• “In over 30 years of gastroenterology practice I never used rectal hydration. Also, rectal feeding
simply doesn’t make physiologic sense. The colon cannot absorb even pureed food.” Steven Field, MD, Clinical Asst. Professor of Medicine, New York University School of Medicine• “Contrary to the CIA’s assertions, there is no clinical indication to use rectal rehydration and feeding over oral or intravenous administration of fluids and nutrients. This is a form of sexual assault
masquerading as medical treatment. In the absence of medical necessity, it is clear that the only
purpose behind this humiliating and invasive procedure is to inflict physical and mental pain.”
Vincent Iacopino, MD, Senior Medical Advisor, Physicians for Human Rights
PDF link. Shorter Physicians for Human Rights: “Are you fucking kidding me?”