The role of the family in hunger strikes
The role of the family in hunger strikes
Hunger strikers are also sometimes submitted to pressures from their families. Family pressure can either be in support of the prisoner’s fasting or it may, on the contrary, try to get the authorities to actively intervene to save the prisoner’s life no matter what the prisoner has determined.
Influence from family members is always possible, and physicians attending hunger strikers may find it useful to communicate with them whenever possible. Advice from, and direct contact with, the family may indeed give physicians crucial background information allowing them to make the best decision.
There may be cases when physicians will find themselves at odds between a family demanding intervention and a prisoner refusing it. In many countries, the family of a prisoner on hunger strike has the legal right to require medical intervention. While keeping this in mind, physicians should never forget that they have a professional commitment to the patient first and foremost.
There will also be cases where families obviously support their prisoner’s fasting, and indeed may be quite openly lobbying to get full outside attention for the hunger strike. In this case, the prison authorities may be reluctant to allow such family visits to continue at all. Here physicians may also have to play their role of intermediary. Although pressures on hunger strikers should be kept to a minimum, this should never be used as an excuse by prison authorities to suppress family visits.