January 01, 2006

Justifiable abuse

The BBC reports on allegations that inmates on hunger strike at Guantanamo are being "force fed in a cruel manner".
[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.

This was allegedly done roughly, sometimes by prison guards rather than doctors. As a result, some prisoners had reported bleeding and vomiting he said.
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.

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.