Rights activists rip US detainee medical guidance

[Judi Lynn]

Rights activists rip US detainee medical guidance

By Will Dunham
Reuters
Tuesday, June 6, 2006; 9:18 PM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon on Tuesday unveiled its most comprehensive guidance to date for medical professionals in dealing with detainees, but rights activists denounced it for allowing broad use of prisoners' health data to guide interrogations.

The directive allows a detainee's medical information to be disclosed for several reasons other than medical treatment, including "lawful law enforcement, intelligence or national security-related activity," which includes interrogations.

"Detainees shall not be given cause to have incorrect expectations of privacy or confidentiality regarding their medical records and communications," the directive stated.

It also reaffirmed the military's policy of force-feeding detainees who engage in a hunger strike, as has often occurred at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Leonard Rubenstein, executive director of Physicians for Human Rights, said the directive "puts doctors and other health professionals in the untenable position of assisting in the infliction of harm," and pushes the United States further away from basic medical, ethical and legal standards.
(snip/...)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/06/AR2006060601385.html