Doctors in the United Kingdom have been advised to refuse to carry out intimate body searches of prisoners and people detained by police and customs officials without the individual’s valid consent, according to new recommendations.
Joint guidance published last week by the BMA and the Association of Police Surgeons (whose members provide medical services to the police) said that an intimate search without consent is only justifiable if a life is at risk—for example, if a detainee collapses from a suspected overdose from concealed drugs.
UK law allows intimate searches without consent for some suspected offences including the concealment of “hard” drugs such as heroin and cocaine. But the new guidance said: “The ethical obligation to seek consent applies even where this is not a legal requirement.” Because these types of searches are carried out for law enforcement reasons rather than for the medical benefit of the individual, doctors seeking consent need to satisfy themselves that detainees have not been subject to undue pressure.
The guidelines call on doctors to consider the ways in which consent may be compromised including the fear, fatigue, and distress of the individual, a lack of privacy, the hope of quicker release, and the belief that a refusal may imply guilt. They recommend that doctors working with law enforcement agencies should insist on an agreement with senior officers that they will be called for when an intimate search is proposed. This would allow doctors to ascertain the detained person’s wishes and to establish whether consent has been given. If a doctor is satisfied that valid consent has been given, then any search should be conducted on hospital or medical premises where resuscitation equipment is available.
Prisoners’ and civil liberties groups have called for the guidance to be taken up by the Home Office, the UK government department in charge of law enforcement. Frances Crook of the Howard League for Penal Reform said: “There should not be undue coercion or pressure to consent to intimate body searches, and we look forward to the Home Office issuing guidelines for prisons.”