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Ethics of Caring for Detained People on Hunger Strike

Annals of Internal Medicine

Mar 8, 2022
prisoner barbed wire
When a detained person refuses food, their medical team faces ethical challenges. Center Director Matthew Wynia, MD, MPH and co-authors affirm that hunger strikes by immigrants and asylum seekers are constitutionally protected, nonviolent protests of last resort, which occur with remarkable frequency (2,500 during the first 6 months of the pandemic) in ICE detention facilities.  Medical care in private prisons operated by GEO Group illustrate disregard for the ethical standards, by using force-feeding for punitive rather than medical reasons. Wynia says force-feeding and other involuntary medical procedures on people who choose to undertake hunger strikes should stop, and health care professionals and their professional associations should play a role in supporting this reform.  Read article>>

Medpage Today also interviewed Dr. Wynia about this topic and article.  View video interview>>

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