'Force feeding' at Guantanamo

Specialties Government

Published

Is this torture? I would have to think so, especially since many of the prisoners being held there have not been convicted of a crime.

Every time the media covers this story, it's always a nurse administering the feeding. What is this doing to the integrity of our profession?

If the military wishes to move forward with these practices, they should leave nurses out of the picture. And of course, military nurses should refuse to take part in such behavior.

Legally, we are able to disobey an unlawful order. If someone felt iffy about this order, they could refuse on legal and moral grounds and very likely be safe doing so.

I personally don't know of anyone who would question it, however.

I am a new graduate nurse waiting on my BOLC date for the Army so I don't have the experience. Maybe some of you experienced military nurses can chime in here. How does "safe harbor" work within the military hospital?

Specializes in Transitional Nursing.

I think to the average person, who doesn't deal with NG tubes or know anything about them it probably seems like torture. I recently read an article by "Anonymous" that showed the items used in NG feedings and described them as if they were the equivalent of putting needles in someone eyes.

I feel like these prisoners probably have ulterior motives for starving themselves. Perhaps they would rather die than talk, maybe they actually are mentally ill. I would argue that someone accused of doing the heinous things some of those prisoners have done would have to be mentally Ill.

I don't think while you are awaiting trial where pertinent and potentially life saving information could be obtained from you, that you should have the right to "off yourself" which is what these prisoners are trying to do. They want to die--and choose to starve themselves in order to do it.

I come from a family of military. My uncle was a "frog man". My still living grandfather is 92 and went through the battle of the bulge. He is the most amazing wonderful man I have ever met. These detainees are suspected terrorists, and honestly, I have no sympathy for them. If you think blowing up babies is ok I think you should have far more than a tube put in your nose.

So, no. I don't think it's torture, and I don't blame the nurses for doing it. The prisoners could choose to start eating again instead of having the NG tubes put in.

I was enlisted when I was in. I did not have the option of resigning. I know the is always the bigger picture. A nurse we always try to put our selves at the other side of bed. As a military nurse we can not refuse a illegal order. I know I would have empathy for pow. The whole every mother cries for her child in war. However I also I was also in during time of cold war. If it is me or Ivan, It will be Ivan. before every deployment the is a briefing of culture. These are smart hard working idealist nurses. I just hope these nurses get some counseling after. They will suffer some form of PSTD. The world is not perfect.

For those discouraged by the actions / ethical demise of your fellow nurses, do not give up hope. It is too easy to be infected with complacency ( "I did it because a person with a gun and power told me it was the right thing"). These nurses will one day be shameful for their actions and the rest of us will have to forgive in order not to be consumed.

1. Hunger strike is civil disobedience not mental illness when protesting indefinite detention. By the way, it is international law that is being used as the excuse. By international, I mean a couple of nations, not "the world."

2. If a person is not mentally ill (suicidal), does a nurse have the duty according to the ANA code of ethics have the right to administer an invasive procedure?

3. Trusting your superior based on what? Military commission history is at best troublesome. Also, what seems to be the Nuremberg defense by the force feeding nurses, is hardly a settled principle and furthermore has little to do with your duty as a nurse. In the heat of this debate, my instinct is to advocate for the relief of the title, nurse, while serving.

The ultimate superior, has what is known as a "kill list", this is murder without charge, trial or transparency that has already taken the lives of three U.S. citizens. Just like the king before We formed this nation of immigrants. Immigrants.

It is an extreme divergance from hundreds of years of nursing development to fall in line with murder and unreasonable detention.

Mike, MSN, PMHNP-BC and former US Marine

July 16, 2014

Bloomberg's newsweek.com is reporting that "A Navy Nurse Is Refusing to Force-Feed a Guantanamo Inmate"

"For the first time, a Navy medical officer has refused to force-feed hunger-striking detainees at Guantanamo Bay."

"...The nurse who refused to force-feed Dhiab has not been identified, but appears to be a Navy lieutenant..."

I wonder if this will be a story that will never be heard about again.

Specializes in Anesthesia.
July 16, 2014

Bloomberg’s newsweek.com is reporting that “A Navy Nurse Is Refusing to Force-Feed a Guantanamo Inmate”

“For the first time, a Navy medical officer has refused to force-feed hunger-striking detainees at Guantanamo Bay.”

“...The nurse who refused to force-feed Dhiab has not been identified, but appears to be a Navy lieutenant...”

I wonder if this will be a story that will never be heard about again.

More than likely not much will happen to the Lt, but it really just depends on the commander at that time.

Specializes in ER, ICU.

An interesting followup to this thread. A Navy nurse is in trouble for refusing to participate.

Top nursing group backs Navy nurse who wouldn't force-feed at Guantánamo | The Miami Herald

All Things Considered on NPR did a piece on this Navy nurse today. He has been in the military for 17.5 yrs and is at risk of dishonorable discharge. He will lose his pension if he is unable to complete 20 years. He will also lose VA benefits and his GI Bill benefits if discharged.

I'd also feel differently after I realized that the reasoning behind bombing and invading such people is complete fiction. I'd wonder, "Why have I signed up to participate in sanctioned murder perpetuated by a government that doesn't care for me once I return home?"

You might feel differently after you've deployed a couple of times and been shot at and rocketed constantly. These people want you dead for no other reason than you are American. Nothing like helping save the terrorists' lives after they tried to overrun the hospital in Bagram. Force feeding as torture....oh please

I'd also feel differently after I realized that the reasoning behind bombing and invading such people is complete fiction. I'd wonder, "Why have I signed up to participate in sanctioned murder perpetuated by a government that doesn't care for me once I return home?"

Specializes in Anesthesia.
I'd also feel differently after I realized that the reasoning behind bombing and invading such people is complete fiction. I'd wonder, "Why have I signed up to participate in sanctioned murder perpetuated by a government that doesn't care for me once I return home?"

You're clueless.

I'd also feel differently after I realized that the reasoning behind bombing and invading such people is complete fiction. I'd wonder, "Why have I signed up to participate in sanctioned murder perpetuated by a government that doesn't care for me once I return home?"

Did you really just resurrect your own 5-year-old thread?

Anyway, same sentiment now as in 2013: The military doesn't need you, but you need us. You enjoy dissent from the comfort of your home, safe from the very real threat of being blown up or dismembered by these prisoners and those like them.

You clearly have no knowledge of the legal and ethical obligations of commissioned officers, let alone the Law of Armed Conflict and how it guides our decisions and behaviors.

This thread is nothing more than a testament to your ignorance and an insult to our intelligence.

+ Add a Comment