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What I read was an article in the New England Journal of Medicine (click here to download the pdf file) titled "Doctors and Torture."  What an awful title.  You can read the article if you have time, but this article implicates US Army doctors in the prisoner torture scandal of Abu Gharib prison.  The author talks about doctors providing medical care for injuries caused by the abuse and failing to report the abuse.  He mentions that death certificates were falsified.  Interestingly, two of the sources he quotes in this medical article are the New York Times and the Washington Post.  That's the first time I ever read an article in the NE Journal that quoted such "respectable" medical sources such as the New York Times and Washington Post.  The truth of the matter is, that there is currently no evidence to support any of his allegations.  It disappoints me to see stuff like this written in such a respectable medical journal without any solid evidence.  Additionally, he suggests that "atrocity-producing settings" corrupted or "socialized" the US Army physicians in a similar manner to the corruption of the Nazi physicians.  Does this mean we are on the same level as Dr. Mengele???  You've got to be kidding me.

In response to this article,  Dr. William Winkenwerder, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs along with the Surgeons General for each military component constructed an extremely well-worded reply.  (Click here for this article).  They state that the article was poorly worded, irresponsible, and based on no evidence.  They also condemn the author for the analogy to the Nazi doctors.  I applaud my most senior military medical leaders for their insightful response to this absurd article.  However, I think their response should have discussed what the other 99% of the military physicians are doing in Iraq...

There are four Combat Support Hospitals located at various locations throughout Iraq.  At any given time there is at least one Iraqi EPW being cared for in these hospitals.  The physicians in this CSH have personally saved the lives of NUMEROUS Iraqi EPW's.  Iraqi EPW's get the same quality of care here that our American soldiers do.  AND, they get much better care than they would at an Iraqi medical facility.  I have to admit, that is not as easy as it sounds.  Do you have any idea what it is like caring for a person who was responsible for firing rockets and mortars at you?  Do you have any idea what it is like caring for a person who you know was directly or indirectly responsible for the death of your friends and fellow soldiers?  Surely the author of that article will never know what it is like to have bullets, rockets, and mortars fired at him in anger.  However, despite all that, we remember what we learned in medical school and what the Hippocratic Oath tells us, and we provide these EPW's the best medical care that we possibly can.  That is the kind of stuff you will never hear about in the news.  Maybe if the reporters would take the time to see more of Iraq than Abu Gharib, our friends and families back home would know what is really going on in Iraq. 

Thanks for your support.