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| Baha Mousa doctor is yet another army victim | Baha Mousa doctor is yet another army victim |
| (4 months later) | |
| It is good that the Iraqi detainees who were victims of army brutality in Iraq are to receive compensation (Ministry pays out millions to torture victims, 21 December), and it is to be hoped that the routine torture of "suspects" by sections of the British Army will cease forthwith. | It is good that the Iraqi detainees who were victims of army brutality in Iraq are to receive compensation (Ministry pays out millions to torture victims, 21 December), and it is to be hoped that the routine torture of "suspects" by sections of the British Army will cease forthwith. |
| But there is another victim in this unedifying episode. In 2003, Dr Derek Keilloh, then an inexperienced army medic in Basra, was called in to examine Baha Mousa after the joint forward interrogation team had finished with him. Now working as a GP, he was struck off last week by the General Medical Council, having been found guilty of misconduct (GP struck off over death of Iraqi tortured by troops, 22 December). I believe this is both a waste and a travesty. | But there is another victim in this unedifying episode. In 2003, Dr Derek Keilloh, then an inexperienced army medic in Basra, was called in to examine Baha Mousa after the joint forward interrogation team had finished with him. Now working as a GP, he was struck off last week by the General Medical Council, having been found guilty of misconduct (GP struck off over death of Iraqi tortured by troops, 22 December). I believe this is both a waste and a travesty. |
| While serving as a junior doctor in the army, Dr Keilloh was posted to Iraq. He had not completed his GP training but was appointed as regimental medical officer to the Queen's Lancashire Regiment, replacing the previous RMO in August 2003. He was given only a limited two-day handover. Dr Keilloh was the most recent addition to the regiment. He had no loyalty to them specifically, and certainly no reason or motive to be untruthful. | While serving as a junior doctor in the army, Dr Keilloh was posted to Iraq. He had not completed his GP training but was appointed as regimental medical officer to the Queen's Lancashire Regiment, replacing the previous RMO in August 2003. He was given only a limited two-day handover. Dr Keilloh was the most recent addition to the regiment. He had no loyalty to them specifically, and certainly no reason or motive to be untruthful. |
| This was an immensely unstable period in Basra, frequently involving violence and trauma. Dr Keilloh's main role was to provide medical support to the troops, who were engaged daily in these conditions. Detainees were a small part of his workload, and doubt remains as to whether they were in fact his patients. | This was an immensely unstable period in Basra, frequently involving violence and trauma. Dr Keilloh's main role was to provide medical support to the troops, who were engaged daily in these conditions. Detainees were a small part of his workload, and doubt remains as to whether they were in fact his patients. |
| Having assessed the seriousness of Baha Mousa's condition, Dr Keilloh proceeded to do everything possible to save his life. After a very traumatic time under severely difficult conditions he had to admit that he had been unsuccessful in his resuscitation efforts. The body was sent off for forensic investigation as protocol because it had been a sudden death. | Having assessed the seriousness of Baha Mousa's condition, Dr Keilloh proceeded to do everything possible to save his life. After a very traumatic time under severely difficult conditions he had to admit that he had been unsuccessful in his resuscitation efforts. The body was sent off for forensic investigation as protocol because it had been a sudden death. |
| I understand that the photograph showing injuries on the face of Baha Mousa was taken six days after his death. The press has repeatedly shown Dr Keilloh's picture alongside that, as if to imply that is what he failed to see. | I understand that the photograph showing injuries on the face of Baha Mousa was taken six days after his death. The press has repeatedly shown Dr Keilloh's picture alongside that, as if to imply that is what he failed to see. |
| There was a complete lack of system from the British Army in dealing with detainees. It was not until the death of Baha Mousa that Dr Keilloh recognised this was a failing. Following the event, to his credit, without senior support or guidance (which indeed was lacking throughout his time in Iraq), he conceived and implemented a system to provide for the vulnerability of detainees. Regrettably this has been twisted to suggest that he set up this system to prevent inhumane treatment because he was aware of it. This is untrue and unfair. | There was a complete lack of system from the British Army in dealing with detainees. It was not until the death of Baha Mousa that Dr Keilloh recognised this was a failing. Following the event, to his credit, without senior support or guidance (which indeed was lacking throughout his time in Iraq), he conceived and implemented a system to provide for the vulnerability of detainees. Regrettably this has been twisted to suggest that he set up this system to prevent inhumane treatment because he was aware of it. This is untrue and unfair. |
| After leaving the army, Dr Keilloh became established as a family doctor and over the last nine years has built up an exemplary reputation. His many patients, their relatives, and other members of the healthcare professions, describe him as an excellent GP. | After leaving the army, Dr Keilloh became established as a family doctor and over the last nine years has built up an exemplary reputation. His many patients, their relatives, and other members of the healthcare professions, describe him as an excellent GP. |
| It is shocking that the scandalous and cruel abuses perpetrated by sections of the army have rebounded on this man. He was not responsible for them but his career is to be ended as a result. Caroline Westgate Hexham, Northumberland | It is shocking that the scandalous and cruel abuses perpetrated by sections of the army have rebounded on this man. He was not responsible for them but his career is to be ended as a result. Caroline Westgate Hexham, Northumberland |
| • It is a sad reflection that the striking off of Derek Keilloh is the only occasion to date of a doctor being punished in relation to abuses in the war on terror – despite multiple occasions of medical supervision in interrogation, torture and force-feeding. In 2005, I reported the military doctor in charge of Guantánamo, Dr John Edmondson, to the relevant US regulatory authorities for ethical abuses in relation to hunger-striking prisoners. No action was taken. | • It is a sad reflection that the striking off of Derek Keilloh is the only occasion to date of a doctor being punished in relation to abuses in the war on terror – despite multiple occasions of medical supervision in interrogation, torture and force-feeding. In 2005, I reported the military doctor in charge of Guantánamo, Dr John Edmondson, to the relevant US regulatory authorities for ethical abuses in relation to hunger-striking prisoners. No action was taken. |
| In 2006, writing in the Lancet, I and 260 colleagues stated: "The failure of the US regulatory authorities to act is damaging the reputation of US military medicine." It is clear from the Baha Mousa inquiry that many others were involved in his death. The failure of the authorities, on both sides of the Atlantic, to acknowledge the ethical and human rights abuses conducted by some military doctors is damaging to the reputation of both the military and medicine. Dr David Nicholl Birmingham | In 2006, writing in the Lancet, I and 260 colleagues stated: "The failure of the US regulatory authorities to act is damaging the reputation of US military medicine." It is clear from the Baha Mousa inquiry that many others were involved in his death. The failure of the authorities, on both sides of the Atlantic, to acknowledge the ethical and human rights abuses conducted by some military doctors is damaging to the reputation of both the military and medicine. Dr David Nicholl Birmingham |
| • Dr Keilloh has paid a high price for having been brutalised in what he believed was the service of his country in a grotesquely unequal and contrived war. Yet to this day, we are treated to the sage pronouncements of Tony Blair, the hand that signed the paper. Of course, as Dylan Thomas pointed out, "hands have no tears to flow". Denis Jackson Glasgow | • Dr Keilloh has paid a high price for having been brutalised in what he believed was the service of his country in a grotesquely unequal and contrived war. Yet to this day, we are treated to the sage pronouncements of Tony Blair, the hand that signed the paper. Of course, as Dylan Thomas pointed out, "hands have no tears to flow". Denis Jackson Glasgow |
| • Another day, another revelation about British torture in Iraq; is this what Michael Gove and his supporters want in our classrooms? Rashid Karapiet Brighton | • Another day, another revelation about British torture in Iraq; is this what Michael Gove and his supporters want in our classrooms? Rashid Karapiet Brighton |
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