When No Means No: Caplan on Force Feeding Starving Inmates
Art Caplan says in the Hartford Courant that it is unethical to force feed inmates on a hunger strike. His claim is that it is a prisoner's right to refuse food as a form of protest against their incarceration or conviction. Similar to refusing medical treatment, competent prisoners can say no to jailbird gruel on moral grounds and be in the right.
I agree with this and with Caplan's claim that doctors should not participate in the force feeding. Let prisoners make their statement and starve. It's perhaps one of the last free choices they can make.
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