New York State has an unprecedented opportunity to lead the nation in the fight against torture by helping health professionals resist unethical orders of abuse and holding accountable the health professionals who are complicit in prisoner abuse.

ACT NOW: Sign a petition urging the New York Legislature to pass the bills

NEWS:

(May 2, 2012) Dr. Allen Keller and NYU Center for Health and Human Rights brought a group of 25 health professionals and medical students to advocate for the legislation in Albany, meeting with almost 30 Assembly and Senate offices. Article here from Legislative Gazette.

(January 4, 2012) The New York City Council Member Daniel Dromm has introduced a Resolution 1189-2012 to support this legislation. Residents of New York City, please reach out to your council members and tell them to pass this resolution!

THE BILLS:

Senate Bill S 6795-2011 (Sponsored by Senator Thomas Duane)
Assembly Bill A5891-2011 (Sponsored by Assemblymember Richard Gottfried)

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

In April 2009, 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. (See here)

What is the driving philosophy of this legislation?

The NY Legislation to Help Doctors Prevent Torture, A-5891 sponsored by Assemblymember Richard Gottfried and S-6795 sponsored by Senator Tom Duane, is legislation with bi-partisan support that aims to hold healthcare professionals to one of the most basic principles of medical ethics:  do no harm.  It represents the first legislation in the country to explicitly prohibit health professionals licensed in the state from assisting in torture, interrogations, and prisoner abuse, while providing them with strong legal protection to resist any future orders or coercion to participate in such acts. Like all laws dealing with professional misconduct, this legislation would be implemented through the use of licensing fees and does not require funding from the state budget.

What does this legislation do?

• Confirms that NY-licensed health care professionals’ duty to do no harm applies to their professional relationships with all patients and under all employers
• Reaffirms that health care 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 care professionals from interrogations
• Empowers NY-licensed health care professionals to resist unlawful orders that could place them at risk of criminal prosecution and civil damages lawsuits, and/or allows those professionals to safely report the orders in the aftermath

Why is this legislation necessary?

As revealed in the 2004 CIA Inspector General’s report and other official documents, health professionals helped design, monitor, and justify the use of torture on detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib, and Bagram airbase, included waterboarding, sensory deprivation, isolation, forced nudity, stress positions, slapping and tackling, mock executions, threatening detainee’s family, and threatening detainee with guns, guard dogs, and power drills.

Health care professionals who participate in these kinds of abhorrent acts thereby commit grave violations of their professional standards and ethics.  A doctor who oversees waterboarding or a psychologist who advises on how to break down the psyche of a prisoner has severely compromised their integrity and should not enjoy the privilege of practicing their profession in the State of New York.

The State is the appropriate venue for such legislation given that in order for U.S. health professionals to practice anywhere (domestically or internationally) they must have a State-issued License.

This legislation is necessary to protect prisoners, patients, and the professions from those health care professionals who would use their special skill and training to harm others.

LEARN MORE:

• Sponsor’s memo
• “Do No Harm” New York Times Endorsement
• The Case of Major John Leso
• PHR Report: Experiments in Torture (June 2010)
• PHR Report: Aiding Torture (August 2009)
• “Doctors of the Dark Side” Documentary
• Supporting organizations and leaders

NEW YORK RESIDENTS TAKE ACTION:

Send an email to your Assemblymember and State Senator, asking them to support the “Duane-Gottfried NY Legislation to Help Doctors Prevent Torture.”

• Look up your NY State Assemblymember
• Look up your NY State Senator

ORGANIZATIONS TAKE ACTION:

• Submit a letter in support of the legislation to yang-yang.zhou@nyumc.org. Click on the links below to see examples by current supporters.

Supporting Organizations:

Professional Associations

• American College of Physicians, NY Chapter
• American Psychoanalytic Association
• Correctional Association of NY
• NY State Society of Physician’s Assistants
• NY State Psychological Association
• NY State Nurses Association
• NY State Nurse Practitioner Association
• National Association of Social Workers, NY State Chapter
• National Lawyers Guild, New York City Chapter
• New York University Post-Doctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis
• William Alanson White Institute of Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis & Psychology
• Physicians for Social Responsibility
• National Physicians Alliance
• American Medical Student Association
• Committee of Interns and Residents
• The Legal Aid Society
• DC-37, New York City’s Largest Public Employee Union
• 1199SEIU, United Healthcare Workers East

Human Rights Organizations

• Amnesty International
• Center for Constitutional Rights
• Physicians for Human Rights
• Human Rights Watch
• Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School
• New York Civil Liberties Union
• The Fortune Society
• Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition
• I Have A Dream Foundation, New York Metro Area
• Human Rights First
• New York State Defenders Justice Fund
• Gay Men’s Health Crisis
• Refuge Media Project

Religious Organizations

• New York Province of the Society of Jesus
• Metro New York Religious Campaign Against Torture
• The American Friends Service Committee
• Catholic Migration Office

In some states, anyone can file a complaint against health professionals licensed in that state.

Against psychologists licensed in New York

The NY Department of Education’s Office of Professional Discipline (OPD) is the agency charged with investigating and prosecuting professional misconduct of psychologists and all other non-medical health professionals.

NY State Psychology Laws, Rules and Regulations

NY State Psychology Board

Complaint Form

Instructions for Filing a Complaint

Complete a complaint form and send directly to the regional office nearest you or fax it to the main professional discipline office at 212-951-6537.  To speak with someone first, call the complaint hotline at 1-800-442-8106, contact the nearest regional office, or e-mail conduct@mail.nysed.gov for more information.

OPD confirms that the professional’s guilt need not be proven at the outset:

If you think you may have been the victim of professional misconduct, file a complaint form. The Office of the Professions will look into the complaint and determine if misconduct has occurred.

Following Up on a Complaint

[After you file a complaint,] [s]taff in the appropriate regional office follow up on each complaint. Members of the State Board for the profession may be consulted during the investigation. If substantial evidence of misconduct is found, we will pursue disciplinary action. Cases of illegal (unlicensed) practice may be handled administratively, or they may be referred after investigation to the State Attorney General for criminal prosecution. …

You may contact the investigator assigned to your complaint at any time during the investigation to learn about the status of your complaint. You will also be informed if the complaint has been referred for further action. …

Almost all investigations are completed within 9 months or less. The time needed to prosecute cases varies, although many cases are concluded through negotiated settlements. Complicated cases may take 2 years or more (from initial complaint to final action) to resolve. If you file a professional misconduct complaint, you will be informed of the status of your complaint and the final outcome.

Disciplinary Actions

… Minor forms of misconduct may be handled through advisory letters or administrative warnings issued by the Office of the Professions; these administrative actions are confidential. The penalties for more serious misconduct range from a fine to the revocation of the license to practice, in accordance with the nature of the misconduct and its consequences. The Board of Regents, which oversees the State Education Department and its Office of the Professions, reviews and takes final action on the most serious professional discipline cases.

If the disciplined professional’s license to practice has not been revoked or suspended, the Office of the Professions may monitor the professional to ensure that probationary terms–such as periodic employer reports or retraining courses–are met.

…  With limited exceptions, individuals who have surrendered their licenses or had their licenses revoked must wait at least three years to apply for license restoration. While the Board of Regents has the authority to restore a professional license, such restoration is not a right. The former licensee must prove that he or she is worthy of the privilege of having a professional license.

Professional Misconduct

Professional misconduct is the failure of a licensed professional to meet expected standards of practice.  The Board of Regents, which licenses individuals in 48 professions defined in Education Law, is responsible for the final disposition of all disciplinary matters. You may search our site by name or by month of action for summaries of final disciplinary actions.

Professional misconduct is defined in Education Law and in the Rules of the Board of Regents.  See list of relevant laws and regulations here. Professional misconduct includes the following:

• Engaging in acts of gross incompetence or gross negligence on a single occasion, or negligence or incompetence on more than one occasion
• Permitting or aiding an unlicensed person to perform activities requiring a license
• Refusing a client or patient service because of race, creed, color, or national origin
• Practicing beyond the scope of the profession
• Releasing confidential information without authorization
• Being convicted of a crime
• Failing to return or provide copies of records on request
• Being sexually or physically abusive
• Abandoning or neglecting a patient in need of immediate care
• Performing unnecessary work or unauthorized services …

A range of penalties that includes censure and reprimand, fines (up to $10,000 for each violation), suspensions and/or probationary terms may be imposed on licensees who have committed misconduct. The Board of Regents takes final action on the most serious cases of misconduct. In severe cases of misconduct, the Regents may revoke the professional’s license. Information on uncontested determinations in which a licensee has been assessed a fine for committing an infraction of a minor and technical nature are available by phone: 518-474-3817, fax: 518-474-1449 or e-mail: op4info@mail.nysed.gov, or by writing to the Office of the Professions.

**

For information on how to file a complaint against physicians, physician assistants and specialist assistants, see the NY Department of Health’s Office of Professional Medical Conduct and Physician Discipline (OPMC).

• reaffirms state jurisdiction over its licensees
• incorporates internationally accepted definitions of  torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment (CIDT)
• explicitly prohibits active and passive participation in torture or CIDT
• bans health professionals from participating in interrogations altogether and
• ensures that the reporting of abuse is mandatory.

Stronger laws stand a better chance of:

• providing support for health professionals inclined to report or refuse to participate in prisoner abuse
• deterring health professionals from participating in prisoner abuse and
• sending a clear message to the state boards that it is their obligation to enforce the laws and regulations that govern health professional licensees.

Support pending legislation in New York!

Gottfried-Duane Bill to Stop Health Professional Participation in Torture

• Sponsor’s memo
• Full text of the bill
• Press release on favorable reporting by the NY State Assembly’s Higher Education Committee

New York residents:

• Click here to send an email to your Assemblymember and State Senator, asking them to support Bill A6665 (Assembly) and Bill S4495 (State Senate)
• Directory of NY State Assemblymembers
• Directory of NY State Senators

Organizations:

• Submit a letter of support (template coming soon)