Gitmo Doctors Covered Up Torture: Study

The Defense Department doctors and psychologists who tended to Guantanamo Bay detainees were complicit in covering up their torture, according to a new study released yesterday. Medical records and legal files reveal that the doctors saw evidence of bone fractures, contusions, and lacerations; heard stories of rape; and saw signs of PTSD in previously mentally healthy individuals; but didn’t inquire about any of it, according to the AFP. One doctor even told a detainee “to relax when the guards are being more aggressive.”

The study, which was published in a peer-reviewed medical journal and co-authored by a retired army brigadier general and an expert with Physicians for Human Rights, examined the cases of nine detainees. Each was subjected to “enhanced interrogation techniques,” as well as unauthorized acts, like severe beatings, sexual assault, mock execution, and choking or water asphyxiation. In nearly all cases, the doctors were called in after a suicide attempt or hunger strike. (More Guantanamo Bay stories.)