In an article published yesterday by PLoS Medicine, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) experts showed that medical doctors and mental health personnel at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba neglected or concealed medical evidence of torture and ill treatment including bone fractures, lacerations, and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. According to the article, Guantánamo health providers should have been able to observe and document the physical and psychological evidence of torture. However, PHR’s investigation found that, despite noticing the detainees’ physical injuries and psychological symptoms, medical personnel failed to question or document the causes.
In an interview with ABC News, Vincent Iacopino, one of the article's authors, said, "What was so striking in our investigation was that it's clear the Department of Defense clinicians provided medical care in the way you'd expect at any hospital or clinic, except that whenever an injury implied the possibility of intentional harm or psychological symptoms suggesting torture, the cause of those symptoms were completely ignored."
To hear Iacopino discuss the article and the implications of the investigation, listen to his interview on KPFK this morning.