‘I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being…‘I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Above all, I will not play God.’

The concept of care has been rooted and placed firmly into society for hundreds of years, dating as far back to Hippocrates, the founding father as such of medical ethics. Healthcare for example is integral to the welfare and development of a society as healthy bodies equate to productive bodies that are expected to contribute to strengthening the economy and essentially increasing their nation’s global power. This is just one example of how healthcare is inextricably linked with political gain and in recent times, the relationship between the two could almost be considered as mutually constitutive.

As 9/11 ushered in the Global War on Terror, the word ‘security’ plagued political discourse as leaders worldwide began to realise that security needed to be enhanced to protect its citizens and national interests because they ‘cared’. The word security itself invokes oxymoronic feelings of safety and paranoia and especially in the West, paranoia and fear must be maintained in order to continue securing. In the name of securitising nations and its people as a result of the tragic attacks, actions were carried out to ensure terrorist attacks, which devastate economies and lives would not occur again. Although millions of Americans had never reaped the benefits as those working on Wall Street or felt protected by powerful elites at the Pentagon, the sheer loss of life and unequivocal patriotism to America, democracy and freedom forced people to care. This feeling of care we clung onto allowed certain practices in the name of security to take place such as the war in Iraq, a mission to capture the fabricated weapons of mass destruction, to the incarceration of hundreds of men caught up in the whirlwind of the war in order to secure national and global security interests.

When security practices, which citizens believe are done to protect our interests, start to breach ethical and moral boundaries there is a need to assess how the concept of care has been used to legitimise these breaches as too often this is ignored. This article aims to examine how care has been manipulated particularly in the field of medical care and how this has now become a political tool in the present terror age.

The Guantanamo Bay Naval Station prison was the answer to many of the Bush Administration’s problems when the offensive to tackle terrorism began. Strategically located away from US jurisdiction and law, Guantanamo, which once housed Haitian and Dominican Republic citizens attempting to illegally enter the US, became the perfect place to detain those ‘scooped’ up in the war. Guantanamo however served more than a detention facility as it became infamous for its intelligence gathering. Its geographic position allowed many detainees to be subject to harsh interrogation techniques and three detainees were notably subject to the infamous practice of waterboarding, a practice which has been acknowledged to cross the torture boundary. Although much has been revealed about Guantanamo, a cloud of secrecy and mystery still remains but from what has been gathered, it is understood that Guantanamo was the place to break every aspect of a detainee, including their trust. One element of trust which broke down severely and likely to have repercussions on life outside of GTMO is the abuse carried out by medical staff. Several reports poured out of GTMO indicating that medical personnel were complicit in the abuse and torture of many detainees, whether directly through physical abuse or indirectly such as withholding drugs unless the detainee complied during interrogations.

"The nurse participated with the riot squad by helping putting something in my nose to make me unable to breathe, and this is the same nurse that dispenses medicine and makes diagnoses"- Abdulaziz al Suadi (ISN 578)

Instances like Abdulaziz’s were tragically common. The one form of care that detainees felt could alleviate some of their hardships had been taken away and this was proof that trust had fully disintegrated in the confines of GTMO. Pills were often forcibly given to detainees to make them comply during interrogations and hallucinations which resulted from these pills were considered as ‘routine’. As explained in an earlier article on hunger strikes, medical staff played an integral role in causing great discomfort and misery to detainees but medical staff may be obliged to cross the ethical medical code they are morally and legally bound by, much closer to home.

Like the PATRIOT Act in the US, which automatically renders an individual as unpatriotic if they do not abide by it, the PREVENT strategy is designed to ensure that everybody has a responsibility in preventing terrorism. As part of the PREVENT strategy introduced by Home Secretary Theresa May, doctors must now identify patients who may be at risk of falling into Islamic extremism. Although the Home Secretary clarified that PREVENT extends to other hard-line extremists and not just Muslims, one thing the strategy does affirm is that medical care has now truly been distorted and manipulated for political motivations. This undoubtedly will leave hundreds if not thousands dubious of trusting and confiding in their doctors, society’s trained carers, for the fear of being labelled as an extremist. It is unquestionable that we have a responsibility to protect our surroundings and people but if we cannot trust those disposed to heal our ailments and help restore us back to normality during times of sickness, then society has truly been sucked into a downward spiral of hopelessness and despair and this aspect of PREVENT will do just that. How so can a nation maintain its strength if the pillars which once raised it are rapidly vanishing? Surveillance has undoubtedly increased over the last decade but using healthcare professionals, in essence professional carers, as cogs to counter terrorism will heighten paranoia as well as isolate many communities for fear of falling victim of being wrongly labelled.