Center for Constitutional Rights

Act Now: Pass the Anti-Torture Bill in New York

Dear CCR Supporter:

This month, New York State has an unprecedented opportunity to lead the nation in the fight against torture by holding accountable health professionals complicit in prisoner abuse. Act now and send an email today to your New York State assemblymember and senator, urging them to take advantage of this opportunity by co-sponsoring and voting for Assembly Bill A-6665-B and Senate Bill S-4495-A.

In April, the Bush administration’s “torture memos” as well as reports by the Senate Armed Services Committee and the International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed that doctors and psychologists have been directly involved in the design, justification, supervision and execution of torture at U.S. military and intelligence facilities. This violates state, federal and international law and professional ethics.

Despite proof of wrongdoing, the health professionals involved in torture still hold their professional licenses to practice. To ensure accountability for torture and to prevent such atrocities from happening again, New York State legislators have introduced Bills A. 6665-B in the Assembly and S. 4495-A in the Senate, new legislation that:

Confirms that NY-licensed health professionals’ duty to do no harm applies to their professional relationships with all patients and under all employers;
Reaffirms that health professionals licensed in New York are prohibited from involvement in torture or other abuse of prisoners, wherever that abuse takes place;
Removes NY-licensed health professionals from interrogations; and
Helps NY-licensed health professionals resist unlawful orders that could place them at risk of criminal prosecution and civil damages lawsuits.

You can read the full text of the bill on the When Healers Harm campaign website.

Take action now to make sure this bill gets to the floor of the New York State Legislature and is passed this term. Send an email to your elected officials and urge them to co-sponsor and vote for the bill.

Sincerely,

Annette Dickerson
Director of Education and Outreach

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February 09, 2010

Subject:

Dear NY State Legislator,

This month, you have an unprecedented opportunity to empower New York health professionals, protect New York patients and make New York a leading voice in the fight against torture.  As a resident in your electoral district, I urge you to take that opportunity by co-sponsoring and voting for Bill [A. 6665-B / S. 4495-A] in the [Assembly / Senate].

In April, President Obama released four torture authorization memos by Bush administration lawyers that devised a legal framework for the justification of the Torture Program.  These memos, along with reports by the Senate Armed Services Committee and the International Committee of the Red Cross, confirmed that physicians and psychologists were integral to the design, rationalization and practice of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of prisoners in CIA and military detention.

These documents provide evidence that health professionals committed crimes under U.S. and international law and also violated professional misconduct laws and ethical codes.  The revelations are truly disturbing and the practices they reveal must be stopped. And, because we know that opportunities for abuse exist wherever people are held in custody, all such abuse must be stopped.

Passing Bill [A. 6665-B / S. 4495-A] is an important first step in addressing these issues because it:

*  Confirms that NY-licensed health professionals’ duty to do no harm applies to their professional relationships with all patients and under all employers;
*  Reaffirms that health professionals licensed in New York are prohibited from involvement in torture or other abuse of prisoners, wherever that abuse takes place;
*  Removes NY-licensed health professionals from interrogations; and
*  Helps NY-licensed health professionals resist unlawful orders that could place them at risk of criminal prosecution and civil damages lawsuits.

We cannot allow any physician, psychologist or other health care professional to turn a New York healing license into a tool of torture or abuse. This bill is vitally important to me as a constituent who believes in the rule of law, and who relies on New York laws to protect my mind and body from health care professionals who would harm others.

Please ensure that Bill [A. 6665-B/ S. 4495-A] becomes law in 2009.

Sincerely,

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