Medical students' attitudes toward torture

Area of Science:

• Medical Ethics
• Public Health
• Medical Education

Background:

• Torture, encompassing domestic and war-related forms, is a critical public health concern.
• International bodies like the United Nations and Geneva Convention, alongside the American Medical Association (AMA) and World Medical Association (WMA), unequivocally condemn torture as unethical and morally wrong.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the attitudes of medical students concerning the ethical permissibility and morality of torture.
• To understand how future physicians perceive torture in various contexts.

Main Methods:

• A questionnaire assessing attitudes towards torture was administered to 336 medical students at the University of Illinois College of Medicine.
• The study received approval from the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine's Institutional Review Board.

Main Results:

• 35% of surveyed medical students agreed that torture could be condoned under certain circumstances.
• 24% disagreed that torture should be prohibited by state policy, and a similar percentage did not consider torture intrinsically wrong.
• A notable 27% believed torture was not unethical, and 27%-35% felt it could be permitted or condoned at times.

Conclusions:

• While most students viewed torture as impermissible and intrinsically wrong, a disturbing minority expressed permissive attitudes.
• These findings among future physicians contrast sharply with established ethical standards from the AMA, WMA, and international conventions.
• Recommendations include a review of medical school curricula to address the ethical considerations of torture.