Pass the NY State Bill to Stop Torture

Saturday, May 23, 2009
Posted in Human Rights | Tagged Human Rights

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New York has the unprecedented opportunity to lead the nation in stopping torture by health professionals. Will you act today? In April, the ‘Bush torture memos’ and reports by the Senate Armed Services Committee and the International Committee of the Red Cross all confirmed that doctors and psychologists were directly involved in the planning, supervision and execution of the use of torture at US military and intelligence facilities, which violates US and international law and medical ethics.

Despite the proof of wrongdoing, none of the health professionals involved in torture have lost their professional license to practice. To ensure accountability for torture, a new piece of legislation, Bill A. 6665 / S. 4495, has been introduced in New York State, which:

reaffirms that health professionals must respect their ethical codes when working with people in custody
confirms that health professionals’ duty to do no harm applies to their professional relationships with all patients and under all employers
prohibits health care professionals licensed in New York from involvement in torture or other abuse of prisoners, wherever that abuse takes place

To make sure this bill gets to the floor of the New York State Legislature and quickly passed, we need your help.

(You can read the full text of the bill here.)

There is now no doubt that health professionals were directly involved by design in abuse at CIA black sites, Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere. New York State could be the first state in the union to hold these health professionals to account through the passage of Bill A. 6665 / S. 4495.

Send an email to your New York State Senator and your Member of Assembly today and urge them to co-sponsor the bill.

Sincerely,