NCJ Number
82502
Date Published
1976
Length
48 pages
Annotation
German law permits involuntary medical treatment of inmates only under life-threatening circumstances or if the potential disability is likely to make sentence completion and rehabilitation impossible.
Abstract
The law mandates upholding the principle of inmates' 'internal freedom' in the correctional setting and leaves numerous possibilities for confronting medical staff with paradoxical dilemmas. Of specific concern are issues relating to forced feeding of hunger strikers, use of anesthetics and other tranquilizers for physical control of violence, and detoxification procedures. The use of sedatives for any but curative purposes is particularly problematic, since the harmful effects of many drugs are still under study, and since their use implicates the doctor-patient relationship of trust and violates the patient's personal dignity. The law gives inmates the right to treatment, and the institution is responsible for providing medical services to maintain the health of persons under its care. However, resisting medical intervention is justifiable only if the treatment goal outweighs in importance the deprivation of personal rights. Under no circumstances should the institution's disciplinary goals be pursued under the guise of medical treatment. The law is paradoxical regarding medical intervention in suicide attempts: on the one hand, forced measures are prohibited; on the other, medical and correctional staff may be liable if death results and they have failed to intervene. Interpretations of the law are offered for guiding medical staff at correctional institutions regarding treatment of common illnesses and communicable diseases, physical and emotional obstacles to rehabilitation, self-mutilation, and suicide attempts. A total of 146 footnotes are given.