Medical Treatment by Brute Force

December 3, 2014

(Huffington Post) – Transnational medical ethics expressly prohibits force-feeding. The World Medical Association’s Declaration of Malta on Hunger Strikers states flatly that “[f]orcible feeding is never ethically acceptable.” A global consensus of medical ethics scholars agrees. “Even if intended to benefit,” the Declaration of Malta holds, “feeding accompanied by threats, coercion, force or use of physical restraints is a form of inhuman and degrading treatment.” “Inhuman and degrading treatment,” in turn, violates multiple international treaties to which the U.S. is a party, including the Convention against Torture and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.