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Medical torture describes the involvement of, or sometimes instigation by, medical personnel in acts of torture, either to judge what victims can endure, to apply treatments which will enhance torture, or as torturers in their own right. Medical torture overlaps with medical interrogation if it involves the use of professional medical expertise to facilitate interrogation or corporal punishment, in the conduct of torturous human experimentation or in providing professional medical sanction and approval for the torture of prisoners. Medical torture also covers torturous scientific (or pseudo-scientific) experimentation upon unwilling human subjects. ==Medical ethics and international law== It is generally accepted that medical torture fundamentally violates medical ethics, which all medical practitioners are expected to adhere to. * The Hippocratic Oath makes explicit statements against deliberate harm not in the patient's best interests. These statements are often translated as ''"I will prescribe regimens for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgment"'' and ''"to never deliberately do harm to anyone, for anyone else's interest."'' (Note: these statements are formulations of the ethical principles of beneficence and non-maleficence.) * In response to the Nazi human experimentation on prisoners during World War II, which were declared at the post-World War II Nuremberg Trials to be "crimes against humanity", the World Medical Association developed the Declaration of Geneva to supplant the dated Hippocratic Oath. The Declaration of Geneva requires medical practitioners to state " * The Nuremberg Trials also led to the emergence of the Nuremberg code which explicitly outlines the boundaries of acceptable medical experimentation. * Additionally in response to the Nazi atrocities, the Geneva Conventions of 1949 outright prohibits the torture of prisoners of war and other protected non-combatants. * The World Medical Association Declaration of Tokyo (1975)〔http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/instree/tokyo.html〕 makes a number of specific statements against torture, including "The doctor shall not ''countenance'', ''condone'' or ''participate in'' the practice of torture". * Also the UN Convention Against Torture, which also applies to medical personnel (in addition to law enforcement officers, military personnel, politicians, and other persons acting in an official capacity), prohibits the use of torture under any circumstance. Under Article 2(2) of the Convention, it states that "No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture." * The UN Principles of Medical Ethics relevant to the Role of Health Personnel, particularly Physicians, in the Protection of Prisoners and Detainees against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UN.1982) applies specifically to medical and other health workers but it has no implementation mechanism to ensure enforcement. It is up to state, provincial, and national bodies to enforce the standards in the document. * The development of command responsibility established criminal liability for all people, including physicians, involved in crimes against humanity. There remain gaps in regulation relating to medical torture in many countries: * Government sponsored torture and organized violence, with the complicity and or participation of health personnel, is internationally prohibited yet these violations occur with impunity in a significant amount of cases. An example of this impunity is found in the Abu Ghraib prison torture and prisoner scandal as well as documented by Amnesty International. * A higher standard of behaviour is expected of health professionals yet the UN Principles of Medical Ethics are not enforceable when governments are complicit in violations. This higher standard is reflected in the principles of beneficence, non-maleficence (above all do no harm), autonomy, justice, dignity and informed consent and these are not covered comprehensively by the UN Convention Against Torture. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Medical torture」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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