Force-feeding
Force-feeding
There are many descriptions by hunger strikers of the actual effects of forcing a tube into the naso-gastric tract. These descriptions warrant some attention as therein lies the main difference between force-feeding, which implies the use of force, and artificial feeding, which does not imply force, and on the contrary implies acceptance by the hunger striker of whatever procedure is chosen. Artificial feeding can be performed ethically as long as the patient's cooperation is freely obtained, and such feeding thus becomes a non traumatic gesture. If a patient is unconscious, artificial feeding is also the procedure, as the patient by definition does not struggle. (see lesson 2. The prisoner's perspective and the role of the doctor: Artificial feeding, force-feeding, and resuscitation 1 & 2)
The following testimonies are from two prisoners who were force fed. It is deemed useful to give these testimonies so that the reader realizes exactly what is meant by using force in force-feeding, which may not be self-evident.
The figure:
Frank Stagg,Irish prisoner Frank Stagg, was held and force-fed in England in the seventies.
Vladimir Bukovsky, Soviet dissident, imprisoned held in the notorious Lefortovo Prison in Moscow, gives testimony from 1971.
and V. Bukovsky in :
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/17/AR2005121700018.html
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