In another story related to coercion of medical procedures, there is this story from Israel Hayom (see prior related posts here, here and here). The proposed law would require doctors to force-feed hunger strikers. If a certain doctor refuses, he would be obligated to transfer the care of the patient to another doctor. There are potentially two people being coerced here, the hunger strikers and the doctors.
According to the article, the Chairman of the Israeli Medical Association claims that this clause would cause doctors to violate the Israeli code of medical ethics. But I am not certain how. Perhaps the relevant clauses are on page 24:
k) The right to continue proper medical treatment1. The physician shall respect the patient's right to continue medical treatment with another physician or as part of some other medical arrangement.2. The physician shall respect the patient's right to receive continuous treatment, with full cooperation from the physicians treating him.
If the patient has the right to switch doctors, presumably he has the right to keep his current doctor (who refuses to force-feed him).
I never quite understood the issue with hunger strikes. How exactly do the strikers force their captors or others to release them by not eating? According to Wikipedia, it works mainly by guilt or public perception. The jailing entity does not want to suffer the public outcry that would result from the death of the prisoners while incarcerated. I guess it just depends on the will of the jailor and the striker.
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