"x x x.
The World Medical Association, in its Declaration of Tokyo, says:
Where a prisoner refuses nourishment and is considered by the physician as capable of forming an unimpaired and rational judgment concerning the consequences of such a voluntary refusal of nourishment, he or she shall not be fed artificially. The decision as to the capacity of the prisoner to form such a judgment should be confirmed by at least one other independent physician. The consequences of the refusal of nourishment shall be explained by the physician to the prisoner.
This declaration has been endorsed by the American Medical Association. AMA President Dr. Jeremy Lazarus, in a letter Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, cites the Tokyo declaration and adds:
Every competent patient has the right to refuse medical intervention, including life-sustaining interventions
The WMA also declare, in their Declaration of Malta, that:
Forcible feeding is never ethically acceptable. Even if intended to benefit, feeding accompanied by threats, coercion, force or use of physical restraints is a form of inhuman and degrading treatment. Equally unacceptable is the forced feeding of some detainees in order to intimidate or coerce other hunger strikers to stop fasting.
In light of the declarations from the WMA, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights has said that:
treating a competent detainee without his or her consent — including force feeding — is a violation of the right to health, as well as international ethics for health professionals.
and
x x x."force-feeding of detainees on hunger strike must be assessed as amounting to torture as defined in article 1 of the Convention against Torture.
