American Doctors Aid Torture.

September 13, 2010 at 7:49 P.M. Previously corrected "errors" were restored to the text. I have done my best to make necessary corrections, once again. I have never been involved in the use of or any other aspect of illegal drugs of any kind.

September 7, 2010 at 8:54 A.M. "Errors" inserted in this essay since my previous review have been corrected.

August 14, 2010 at 9:52 P.M. Previously corrected "error" was restored to this text. I have now corrected that "error," once more. Keep 'em coming, Mr. Tuchin. Pretend that I am Palestinian. How many Arabs have you tortured, Terry? How many African-Americans and Latinos have you questioned under hypnosis? What state agencies make use of your services, Terry? How many men and women sitting in prison have no idea that they have been questioned under hypnosis by you, Terry Tuchin, in the presence of police or prosecutors?

July 19, 2010 at 11:35 A.M. "Errors" were inserted in this text which had been left alone for a while. I have made the necessary corrections. I cannot say how many other writings have been altered or vandalized overnight.

"Doctors Who Aid Torture," (Editorial) in The New York Times, June 8, 2010, at p. A26.

"Disturbing new questions have been raised about the role of doctors and other medical professionals" -- to say nothing of legal professionals not prosecuted for any crimes and deemed "ethical" by the authorities -- "in helping the Central Intelligence Agency subject terrorism suspects to harsh treatment, abuse and torture." ("Is America's Legal Ethics a Lie?" and "New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System.")

Everything that both physicians and lawyers should represent, as forces for civilization and against barbarism, is betrayed by this recent tendency among U.S. professionals to participate in atrocity. ("America's Unethical Medical Torturers.")

Worse, is the cover-up and disdain for objections from the global community -- including objections from their colleagues all over the world -- horrified by this betrayal of what, in the true meaning of the word, is called: "professional ethics." ("Is America's Legal Ethics a Lie?" and "American Legal Ethics Today.")

Terry Tuchin is an American (or Israeli?) torturer, a self-proclaimed "C.I.A. psychiatrist," whose records of tortures to which I have been subjected continue to be denied to me. I cannot say how many Muslims or African-Americans good old Terry has tortured. Have you killed many Palestinians, Terry? ("What is it like to be tortured?" and "Terry Tuchin, Diana Lisa Riccioli, and New Jersey's Agency of Torture.")

"The Red Cross previously documented, from interviews with 'high value' prisoners, that medical personnel helped facilitate abuses in the C.I.A.'s 'enhanced interrogation program' [torture] during the Bush administration. Now Physicians for Human Rights has suggested that the medical professionals may also have violated national and international laws setting limits on what research can be performed on humans."

Rape, theft, physical assault, torments or manipulations of family members, use of frustrations, anxiety, guilt-inducement, and dismantling or disconfirmation of identity are frowned upon as likely to produce devastating psychological harm to victims, usually for life. ("An Open Letter to My Torturers in New Jersey, Terry Tuchin and Diana Lisa Riccioli" and "America's Unethical Medical Torturers.")

" ... The group's report focused particularly on a few issues where medical personnel played an important role -- determining how far a harsh interrogation could go, providing legal cover against prosecution and designing future interrogation procedures. The actual monitoring data are not publicly available, but the group was able to deduce from the guidelines governing the program what role the health professionals played, assuming they followed the rules."

Many of these so-called medical doctors have forgone the right to be described as health professionals or civilized human beings. Tragically, many are said to be Jews. They have arrived at the level of Mengele and his colleagues in the Nazi concentration camps -- like Mr. Tuchin of Ridgewood, New Jersey. This would be a good time to insert some "errors," Terry.

What medical degress did you hold in November, 1988, Terry Tuchin? ("Deborah T. Poritz and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey" and "Stuart Rabner and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey.")

"The group concludes that health professionals who facilitated these practices were in essence conducting research and experimentation" -- we can learn from you! -- "on human subjects. The main purposes of such research, the group says, were to determine how to use various techniques, to calibrate the levels of PAIN and to create a legal basis for defending interrogators from potential prosecution under torture laws. The interrogators could claim that they had acted in good faith in accord with medical judgments of safety and had not intended to inflict extreme suffering."

"Chivalry Film Productions" was the code name of your operation, right Terry? I've still got that attractive cap. I do not accept that New Jersey judges and experts can claim, rationally, that they never intended to induce pain in a person subjected to the unspeakable horrors that I have described in these blogs. ("What is it like to be tortured?")

Plausible denial or a basis for lying about the harm, usually of a permanent nature, done to victims was the goal of this research among U.S. interrogators. Among the experiments in torture-like manipulations are various, allegedly, secret efforts to control or drive insane inmates (both male and female) in penal facilities, usually after female inmates are raped or otherwise violated. Frustration tactics -- like inserting "errors" in written texts are very popular -- and worse horrors are also routine. "Ideally," victims will not be believed when they claim that they have been raped. ("Foucault, Rose, Davis and the Meanings of Prison.") David Kaiser & Lovisa Stannow, "The Rape of American Prisoners," in The New York Review of Books, March 11, 2010, at p. 16. (Systematic and routine rape of inmates is a feature of American incarceration.)

The International Socialist Review has reported that experiments to test intelligence among children from poor neighborhoods, like Washington Heights in New York, have been conducted without the consent or awareness of parents. Other extensive "studies" among persons from the "lower-orders" are not confirmed. A recent news account of secret injections of harmful drugs given to uninformed and unsuspecting patients in medical facilities has resulted in no criminal charges against anyone. ("What is it like to be tortured?" and "'Inception': A Movie Review.")

Mr. Holder, this ghastly and criminal effort to subject persons to medical experimentation constitutes an abomination and must not be swept under the rug. Please investigate and prosecute the persons responsible for these atrocities that have destroyed so many lives. Do not turn this matter over to Mr. Margolis of the Justice Department. Mr. Christie? Mr. Holder? What will it take for you to act in this very public situation? ("American Doctors and Torture.")

Mr. Christie and Ms. Dow, this matter cannot be covered-up. Please -- since you seem to lack the necessary integrity -- borrow the decency to do the right thing and supply the torture files to one victim of this unspeakable barbarism. You will save taxpayer money by avoiding future efforts to cope with criticisms from persons, like me. It's a "win-win" situation.

"Tortured, Under the Eyes of a Doctor," Letters From Readers in The New York Times, June 14, 2010, at p. A22:

"To the Editor:"

"Your call for the White House and Congress to investigate charges that doctors, psychologists and physician assitants unlawfully participated in torture, as documented by Physicians for Human Rights, is unlikely to be heeded."

"There are two explanations for President Obama's failure to hold the previous administration accountable for its open violations of the laws against torture. The charitable one is that President Obama, as he has said, wants to look forward, not backward, which is in line with his efforts at conciliation and bipartisanship. The cynical explanation is that the administration wishes to retain the right to torture."

[And enslave little brown persons? Please insert another "error" right about here.]
"Either way, the result of holding the previous administration unaccountable assures that we will torture again."

Rod Such
Redmond, Wash., June 8, 2010.

"The United States has a gruesome record of human subject research about prisoners, and prisoners detained on suspicion of terrorism are considered wholly unworthy of humane consideration."

[We may have surpassed China's human rights violations in this area, one of the few in which we lead the world -- torture by U.S. doctors -- and we have certainly exceeded Cuba's human rights violations after the release of all prisoners of conscience on the island nation.]

"Waterboarding, originally tested for one-time use, became so streamlined that it could be applied 'safely' more than 180 times. A tracheotomy kit was kept on hand so that a person could be efficiently resuscitated while in the throes of drowning."

[Kept alive in order to be tortured further, indefinitely. My experiences with New Jersey's "touchless torture techniques" date from 1988-today. Rape is an added feature of the experience. No more "errors"?]

"I am reminded of the struggle over the role doctors played in the development of death penalty protocols. The American Medical Association's condemnation resulted in the development of at least one company that specializes in certifying lethal injection protocols and the death of the condemned."

"To avoid a similar result, we must end torture and the use of implements of torture, and change detention conditions that constitute psychological torture."

Jamie Bissonette
Pembroke, Me., June 8, 2010

The writer is director of the Healing Justice program, New England, part of the American Friends Service Committee.

"I am repelled by the concept of doctors participating in torture and in experiments on humans to make torture safer."

"I am equally repelled by the lack of resolve of the current administration to examine the practices of the previous executive branch that led to such activities, and by the adoption of policies and procedures that the prior administration is desperate to avoid having examined."

[Mr. Holder, is it your position that the U.S. Justice Department is unable to prevent the continuing insertions of "errors" in these writings? Has MSN Groups or MSN "closed"?]

"Actions government employees take using taxpayer money should not be hidden. In our democracy, we should be able to decide if this is how we want our money to be used."

Jonathan Knisely
New Haven, June 8, 2010

The writer is a doctor.

"No doctor or other health professional should be allowed to use his or her education, training and professional status to cooperate in the torture or improper treatment of prisoners."

Please see: "An Open Letter to My Torturers in New Jersey, Terry Tuchin and Diana Lisa Riccioli." I have never been charged with a crime nor have I been convicted of any crime. I do not and have not used illegal drugs. ("Burn Notice" and "American Courts Must Not Condone Torture.")

"The states, which license health care professionals" -- this includes New Jersey -- "should bar them from participating in torture or improper treatment of prisoners. I have sponsored a bill in the State Assembly to prohibit health care professionals licensed in New York from participating in torture or improper treatment of a prisoner." (Again: "An Open Letter to My Torturers in New Jersey, Terry Tuchin and Diana Lisa Riccioli.")

"There would be much less abuse of prisoners if even a few doctors said: 'Sorry, sir, but I could lose my license if I did that.' ..."

Richard N. Gottfried
New York, June 8, 2010

The writer is a member of the New York State Assembly and Chairman of its Health Commission.

"Chairperson" or "Chair" would be more appropriate language displaying greater sensitivity to women's language issues and concerns. We must not make use of sexist terms.

"The identities of the doctors who participated in the blatantly unethical and illegal activities described in your editorial should be disclosed. We do not want such doctors treating us, and our government should not 'cover up' their activities."

"Since medical licenses are granted by individual states, these doctors should face disciplinary proceedings, with appropriate due process, by the boards of medical licensure in each and every state where they have a license to practice."

Herbert Rakatansky
Providence, R.I., June 8, 2010

The writer is emeritus clinical professor of medicine, Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.