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Assembly Health Committee Chair Richard N. Gottfried
822 Legislative Office Building, Albany, NY 12248 - Tel: 518-455-4941
250 Broadway, #2232, New York, NY 10007 - Tel: 212-312-1492
GottfrR@assembly.state.ny.us

For Immediate Release:
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Anti-Torture Bill Moves in Albany
Physicians and other health care professionals licensed by New York would be prohibited
from participating in torture or improper treatment of a prisoner under a bill approved
unanimously by the Assembly Higher Education Committee today.
"It is shocking that our government engages in torture and improper treatment of
prisoners," said the bill's author, Assembly Health Committee chair Richard N.
Gottfried (D,WF- Manhattan). "It is even more shocking to see reports that physicians
and other health care professionals are cooperating in it." In February 2008, the
Washington Post reported on U.S. Attorney General Robert Mukasey's argument that
waterboarding was not torture because it was monitored and limited by someone with
medical training. In 2005, the New England Journal of Medicine reported on violations
of medical ethics against medical personnel at Guantanamo Bay for sharing prisoner's
health information with interrogators.
The bill has 27 co-sponsors in both parties and is the first of its kind in the
nation, Gottfried said."It is never justifiable to torture another human being. It is wrong for a healthcare professional to use his or her education and training to participate in or
facilitate torture or improper treatment of a prisoner," said Gottfried. "I don't
think any New York patient would want to be treated by a health care professional
who would do that to another human being."
The bill would apply to conduct by any New York-licensed health care professional
wherever it happens, and regardless of whether it is committed in connection with
any government. The bill would follow international treaties and standards and
professional standards by establishing the proper conduct of health care professionals
in relation to the treatment of prisoners, Gottfried said.
"New York law ordinarily cannot reach beyond our borders, but the state can limit
the professional behavior of a person to whom it grants a license," Gottfried said.
"We often revoke a license for out-of-state misconduct."
Under the bill, health care professionals would be required to provide proper care
and treatment to prisoners as best they can under the circumstances. Any evaluation
or treatment they provide must be in the interest of the prisoner. Military or
other governmental orders would not shield a person from the loss of their professional
license in New York.
The bill is based on the UN Convention Against Torture, adopted in 1982, and the
World Medical Association Declaration of Tokyo, adopted in 1975.
If the bill, A9891, is approved by the Higher Education Committee, which has jurisdiction
over professional licensor, it will go to the Assembly Codes Committee, which will
review the penalty provisions of the bill.
Prohibiting health professionals from cooperating with torture is advocated by the
UN General Assembly, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the World Medical
Association, the American Medical Association, the American College of Physicians,
the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, and
the National Association of Social Workers, among others. The bill was developed
with the assistance of Physicians for Human Rights, and the New York Campaign Against
Torture.