[Manfred Nowak, UN special rapporteur on torture,] told the BBC that he had received reports that some hunger strikers had had thick pipes inserted through the nose and forced down into the stomach.I'm not surprised: force feeding someone is never easy or pleasant. Twenty-five years ago, when I worked in a UK hospital, I was involved in force feeding a teenage anorexic. It's a rough business and there's no gentle way of doing it. And, I have to say, it was the most distressing thing I've ever had to do.
This was allegedly done roughly, sometimes by prison guards rather than doctors. As a result, some prisoners had reported bleeding and vomiting he said.
Is it cruel? I don't think so, but it's clear that force feeding someone (whether they are a Guantanamo detainee or a patient in a UK hospital) involves a considerable level of physical abuse, which is only warranted by the intent to sustain life.
