The AMA and Torture

Abstract

To the Editor.— The editorial, Toward the Prevention of Torture, by Dr Lundberg and Ms Knoll1has confounded the appropriate condemnation of physician participation in torture with the inappropriate defense of quasi-historical, quasi-scientific religious article published in major medical and scientific journal.2 The editorial says that the article was published, in part, because the editor considered it a pathological analysis (apparently no pun intended). This explanation lacks credibility because the article was by no means analytic (it was, if anything, synthetic) and because no amount of history, even when it is factual, can take the place of an authentic autopsy3—a position the editor himself has championed in the past.4Had he said that he published the article because it supported his religious beliefs, he would at least have had credibility. In the editorial, the death of Jesus was placed in juxtaposition with physician participation