Current Evidence in Personal Injury and Torture Medicine

Abstract

Why are both medicine and doctors involved in torture? If the goal of torture is to produce damage (physical or mental), pain and suffering with the aim of obtaining information, such information can be obtained without any medical involvement. However, the reality is that medicine has been an active part of torture, especially during these last decades. Modern torture requires the assistance of medicine to avoid the infliction of scars, to design procedures and tactics to exploit prisoners’ weaknesses and vulnerability, as well as to falsify certificates and reports when cases are investigated. Medical torture is a question of ethics, but it is not only an ethical question. It is also a question of responsibility and professionalism, and we should act in consequence and begin with prevention from Schools of Medicine. Accountability and prevention are two key actions to eradicate medical torture, and the role of IALM and Forensic and Legal Medicine Associations is essential to achieve both, especially in the present epoch, where new methods of torture render the investigation of cases more difficult.