We write as members of the international medical community to call upon the Israeli Medical Association (IMA) to uphold its commitment to ethical principles by supporting independent international investigation of medical practices in Israeli detention facilities.
The IMA’s ethics code states that physicians shall “not participate or assist in any way in the torture, degradation or harm to the dignity of a person, including one who is incarcerated” and mandates “the guarantee of medical and health services during the Israeli–Palestinian armed conflict”.1
Allegations regarding physicians’ complicity in torture, medical neglect, and denial of life-saving treatment to detainees at facilities such as Assuta Hospital and the Sde Teiman detention facility raise serious concerns about potential violations of these standards.2,3 These allegations, if true, would constitute fundamental breaches of the ethical principles that the IMA has committed to uphold.
Equally concerning is the systematic destruction of Gaza’s health-care infrastructure documented by Physicians For Human Rights Israel.4 The targeting of hospitals, clinics, and medical facilities, along with the killing of health-care workers, represents a fundamental assault on medical neutrality that violates the IMA’s own ethical commitments.
We call upon the IMA to support the call for an independent international investigation of all detention facilities where medical care is provided; support the transparent reporting of findings to the international medical community; guarantee the implementation of recommendations ensuring compliance with IMA ethics and international standards; support the protection of whistleblowers reporting ethical violations; and publicly oppose and seek accountability for attacks on health-care facilities and staff in Gaza.
The credibility of medical ethics depends on implementation, not articulation. We urge the IMA to show that its ethics code represents a living commitment to protecting all people’s dignity and safeguarding medical care during conflict.
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FV reports funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, South African Medical Research Council, US National Institutes of Health, Unitaid, Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics, Merck, and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation; previous funding from USAID; drug donations from ViiV Healthcare, Merck, Johnson & Johnson, and Gilead Sciences; investigator-led studies with MSD, Johnson & Johnson, and ViiV Healthcare; commercial drug studies with Merck and Novo Nordisk; evaluations of diagnostic devices for multiple biotechnology companies; honoraria for educational talks and advisory board participation from Gilead Sciences, ViiV Healthcare, Mylan/Viatris, MSD, Adcock-Ingram, Aspen, Abbott, Roche, Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi, Boehringer Ingelheim, Thermo Fisher, and Virology Education; and membership of the NIAID DAIDS Data and Safety Monitoring Board, Dira Dengwe Conference Committee, Health Justice Initiative Reference Advisory Group, and the European Treatment Network of HIV, Hepatitis and Global Infectious Diseases Executive. All other authors declare no competing interests…..see article here.