WHEREAS, The ethical policy of the American Medical Association (AMA) prohibits physicians from conducting or directly participating in an interrogation or monitoring interrogations with the intention of intervening; and
WHEREAS, AMA policy also states that "[t]orture refers to the deliberate, systematic or wanton administration of cruel, inhumane and degrading treatments or punishments during imprisonment or detainment. Physicians must oppose and must not participate in torture for any reason ... Physicians should help provide support for victims of torture and, whenever possible, strive to change the situation in which torture is practiced or the potential for torture is great"; and
WHEREAS, United States Code section 2340 states that (1) "torture" means an act committed by a person acting under the color of law specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering (other than pain or suffering incidental to lawful sanctions) upon another person within his custody or physical control; (2) "severe mental pain or suffering" means the prolonged mental harm caused by or resulting from: (A) the intentional infliction or threatened infliction of severe physical pain or suffering; (B) the administration or application, or threatened administration or application, of mind-altering substances or other procedures calculated to disrupt profoundly the senses or the personality; (C) the threat of imminent death; or (D) the threat that another person will imminently be subjected to death, severe physical pain or suffering, or the administration or application of mind-altering substances or other procedures calculated to disrupt profoundly the senses or personality; and
WHEREAS, In August 2006, the American Psychological Association stated that "psychologists shall not knowingly participate in any procedure in which torture or other forms of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or cruel, inhuman, or degrading punishment is used or threatened" and that "should torture or other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or cruel, inhuman, or degrading punishment evolve during a procedure where a psychologist is present, the psychologist shall attempt to intervene to stop such behavior, and failing that exit the procedure"; and
WHEREAS, In June 2005, the House of Delegates of the American Nurses Association issued a resolution stating all of the following: "prisoners and detainees have the right to health care and humane treatment"; "registered nurses shall not voluntarily participate in any deliberate infliction of physical or mental suffering"; "registered nurses who have knowledge of ill-treatment of any individuals including detainees and prisoners must take appropriate action to safeguard the rights of that individual"; "the American Nurses Association shall condemn interrogation procedures that are harmful to mental and physical health"; "the American Nurses Association shall advocate for nondiscriminatory access to health care for wounded military and paramilitary personnel and prisoners of war"; and "the American Nurses Association shall counsel and support nurses who speak out about acts of torture and abuse"; and
WHEREAS, In March 2005, the California Medical Association stated that it "condemns any participation in, cooperation with, or failure to report by physicians and other health professionals the mental or physical abuse, sexual degradation, or
WHEREAS, In November 2004, the American Public Health Association stated that it "condemns any participation in, cooperation with, or failure to report by health professionals the mental or physical abuse, sexual degradation, or torture of prisoners or detainees," that it "urges health professionals to report abuse or torture of prisoners and detainees;' and that it "supports the rights of health workers to be protected from retribution for refusing to participate or cooperate in abuse or torture in military settings"; and
WHEREAS, The United States military medical system in Guantanamo Bay,
Afghanistan, Iraq, and other United States operated foreign military prisons failed to protect detainees' rights to medical treatment, failed to prevent disclosure of confidential medical information to interrogators and others, failed to promptly report injuries or deaths caused by beatings, failed to report acts of psychological and sexual degradation, and sometimes collaborated with abusive interrogators and guards; and
WHEREAS, Current United States Department of Defense guidelines authorize the participation of certain military health personnel, especially psychologists, in the interrogation of detainees as members of "Behavioral Science Consulting Teams" in violation of professional ethics. These guidelines also permit the use of confidential clinical information from medical records to aid in interrogations; and
WHEREAS, Evidence in the public record indicates that certain military psychologists, working on behalf of the United States government, participated in the design and implementation of psychologically abusive interrogation methods used at Guantanamo Bay, in Iraq, and elsewhere, including sleep deprivation, long-term isolation, sexual and cultural humiliation, forced nudity, induced hypothermia and other temperature extremes, stress positions, sensory bombardment, manipulation of phobias, force-feeding hunger strikers, and more, while evidence in the public record also indicates that certain military psychologists objected to the use of such methods; and
WHEREAS, Published reports indicate that the so-called "enhanced interrogation methods" of the Central Intelligence Agency reportedly include similar abusive methods and that agency psychologists may have assisted in their development; and
WHEREAS, in August 2007 the American Psychological Association prohibited psychologist participation in nineteen techniques associated with "enhanced" interrogation methods, also referred to as "no-touch torture" and "torture light"; and
WHEREAS, Medical and psychological studies and clinical experience show that these abuses can cause severe or serious mental pain and suffering in their victims, and therefore may violate the "torture" and "cruel and inhuman treatment" provisions of CAT and the United States War Crimes Act, as amended by the Military Commissions Act of 2006; and
WHEREAS, The United States Department of Defense has failed to oversee the ethical conduct of California-licensed health professionals related to torture;
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