Over-reliance on torture and abuse as national security “tools”

“Enhanced interrogation” and over-use of solitary confinement to break down alleged terrorists and others held in national security and immigration detention have become increasingly widespread over the past decade. Alarmingly, many health professionals have been involved in these processes in both active and passive roles. Monitoring harm caused by interrogation and torture, reviving victims that have been rendered unconscious, and treating harm caused by overzealous interrogators, are just some of the unethical roles that health professionals have filled with the blessing of the US government. Unfortunately, a majority of the American public has acquiesced to the view that these practices are both necessary and acceptable. A major public awareness campaign needs to be undertaken, with the help of health professionals, to re-educate the American people about our human rights obligations as both a nation and a people.