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Doctors question medical ethics at Guantanamo Bay

Troubled by news accounts of medical participation in coercive interrogations at Guantanamo Bay and the resulting unease in the professional medical community, the Pentagon led an intense one-day tour of the detention camp last month, several participants said in recent days.

The purpose of the trip last Oct. 19, some of the participants said, was for the military leadership to convince the ethicists, psychiatrists, psychologists and others who visited the detention camp at the US Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, that what was occurring there did not violate medical ethics and was necessary to strengthen the nation's security.

But many participants seem not to have been convinced.

Steven Sharfstein, president of the American Psychiatric Association, who went on the trip, said that the group's members' assembly voted unanimously on Saturday to recommend a strict code against participation in some of the activities described in news reports.

Sharfstein said that the recommendation was certain to be adopted by the association's board next month, making it official policy.

He said the main concern was the use of military psychiatrists as members of Behavioral Science Consultation Teams, known as biscuit teams, to advise interrogators at Guantanamo.

"Our position is very direct," he said. "Psychiatrists should not participate on these biscuit teams because it is inappropriate."

He said the military hosts, who included the commanding general at Guantanamo, the US surgeon general and the medical personnel at Guantanamo, said they had sought to use psychiatrists and psychologists only for advice aimed at building rapport with detainees during interrogation. They said the professional advice was not used to harm detainees.

That description is at odds with some news accounts.

The New York Times reported in June that former interrogators at Guantanamo had described in interviews how military doctors had helped them in refining coercive interrogations, including providing advice on how to increase stress levels and exploit fears.

Pentagon officials have not made medical personnel available for interviewss, but have said they believe that military doctors are not asked to do anything that violates professional ethics.
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