Doctors of the Dark Sidewill premiere at Georgetown University Law Center this coming Monday, October 24, 2011, at 6:30pm. Thefilm documentsthe critical role that physicians and psychologists played in the torture ofdetainees in US custody, an issue which PHR has been investigating and reportingon for several years in attempt to prevent future abuse of detainees andsimilar ethical violations. Thisvisually compelling, often graphic documentary, narrated byMercedes Ruehl, contains interviews of doctors, psychologists, militaryofficers, former detainees, and attorneys who reveal the substantial involvementby health professionals in the systematic physical and psychological tortureand abuse of detainees.
The documentary will be followed by a panel discussion,moderated by Kristine Huskey, PHR’s Director of Anti-Torture Program andAdjunct Professor, Georgetown University Law Center. Panelists will include:
- M. Gregg Bloche, Professor,Georgetown University Law Center and author of The Hippocratic Myth: Why Doctors Are Under Pressure toRation Care, Practice Politics, and Compromise Their Promise to Heal
- Martha Davis, Producer and Director of "Doctorsof the Dark Side”
- Leonard Rubenstein, VisitingScholar, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School for Public Health
- Dr. Stephen Xenakis,US Army Brigadier General (Ret.), Court-approved medical expert, GuantanamoTribunals
Doctors of the Dark Side gives a human faceto an issue that many do not want to confront. As demonstrated in the film, andas further described by PHR in, Broken Laws, Broken Lives,medical professionals implicitly or explicitly authorized the torture thatoccurred at Guantanamo, including practices such as isolation, sleepdeprivation, forced nakedness, severe humiliation and degradation, and sensorydeprivation. This must-see documentary confirms the need to strengthen through state legislation professional ethical standards by prohibitinghealth professionals’ participation in torture, abusive treatment andinterrogation.