We read with great interest the news item on the last trial of a Nazi doctor.1 The following question arises in this connection: What is the role of the political and medical community? Health professionals working in situations of widespread human rights abuses can face significant personal risks in carrying out their duties. In the early 1980s in Central America numerous health care workers were targeted because of their professional activities.2,3 In 1994 in Iraq, doctors were required by law to amputate the ears and brand the foreheads of deserters. They were told that if they refused, they would suffer the same fate. One doctor was executed and many were imprisoned for their refusal to exercise medicine punitively.4 This example underlines the vulnerability of the individual health care practitioner in the absence of strong collective refusal to compromise ethical and professional standards.
Is Dr. Heinrich Gross really the last physician of his "kind"? What about physicians who have contributed or still contribute to corporal punishment? There should be more precise international standards including but not limited to medical associations taking steps against the participation of medical staff in corporal punishment and in carrying out the death penalty.
Some steps have been taken by the World Medical Association,5 but a much more active commitment by professional bodies to defend human rights and oppose abuses is required, such as the establishment of human rights representatives in each national medical association who would visit and report on a regular basis to the World Medical Association and the Amnesty International medical office.
Signatures
Siroos Mirzaei
Department of Nuclear Medicine Wilhelminenspital and Hemayat (Organisation for the support of survivors of torture and war) Vienna, Austria
Peter Knoll
Department of Nuclear Medicine Wilhelminenspital Vienna, Austria
References
- 1.Kezwer G. World's "last trial" involving Nazi doctor ends in Austria after suspect declared demented. CMAJ 2000;162(11):1599.
- 2.Amnesty International. El Salvador: further reports of violations of medical and health care rights. London: Amnesty International; 1981. Report no.: AMR 29/19/81.
- 3.Amnesty International. Medical staff victims of death squads in Guatemala. London: Amnesty International; 1982. Report no.: AMR 34/08/82.
- 4.Amnesty International. Amputations and branding; detention of health professionals. London: Amnesty International; 1994. Report no.: MDE 14/13/94.
- 5.World Medical Association. Declaration concerning support for medical doctors refusing to participate in, or to condone, the use of torture or other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Ferney-Voltaire (France): The Association; 1997. Available: www.wma.net/e/policy/17-ffff_e.html (accessed 7 Aug 2000).