A report on the last talk: "A Christian doctor's approach to the victims of torture"
Branch AGM 22/11/07
Future Meetings to note
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A report on the last talk: "A Christian doctor's approach to the victims of torture" |
|
Branch AGM 22/11/07 |
|
Future Meetings to note |
|
Post Abortion Symptoms |
This talk from Dr Frances Hogwood was given to the Worcestershire branch in November. She outlined her involvement with torture victims who are seeking asylum here. She became interested when there was a support group in Worcester for the Medical Foundation for the Medical Care of the Victims of Torture. This organisation was founded by Helen Bamber who after the Second World War assisted the inmates of Belsen concentration camp. The organisation ( the first and biggest of its kind in the world ) had now ,built up a considerable amount of expertise and recruited medical staff, paid and unpaid, in addition to a range of welfare staff, psychotherapists, counsellors, lawyers and therapists from a variety of disciplines and ethnic backgrounds. The Foundation had now opened small centres around the UK in cities where asylum seekers were being dispersed and their expertise was also being sought in other countries.
Her involvement had been as a volunteer doctor preparing medico-legal reports requested by solicitors representing the victims of torture in their application for asylum. Some of these required ongoing support from her.
Many clients in the past self referred, coming in off the streets but since the 2000 Immigration Law, the number had reduced as many of the victims were now classed as illegal immigrants. They could be held in various detention centres around the UK and often had to prove their allegations of torture and ongoing personal danger were true in order to avoid repatriation. She had some experience of working with prisoners and of medico-legal work before taking up this work as a volunteer doctor after reducing her general practice commitments in 2000. She was acting not as an advocate for them but a source of forensic evidence for the courts, the medico-legal reports she prepared being commissioned by lawyers involved and presenting medical evidence to the court.
Torture has been described as planned and intentional degrading and inhuman treatment which can be physical, psychological or sexual. There is a continuum of the violence. This "skill" can be learnt like any other and some of the methods are ancient including beatings and whippings. She drew attention to the scourging of Christ. Some of the methods had originated in the old Soviet empire and been exported to Africa and elsewhere. Some of the methods left little trace after a while but others left characteristic scars such as those produced by manacles and cigarette burns. International protocols can be applied to denote the degree of certainty. She often dealt with women victims and virtually all of them had been raped. (Rape is now internationally recognised as an instrument of torture). The medical reports were required if victims accounts were to be corroborated and asylum granted. The responsibility was heavy and it brought her and the others involved into contact with "the face of darkness".
A considerable body of expert evidence and expertise has been built up by the Medical Foundation over the years and people working in the field of refugees and asylum seekers, including some judges, are treating it with respect. The work of translators was crucial and often central to the work. Accuracy and attention to detail was of paramount importance in preparing medico-legal reports and she felt there was a continuing need for doctors and therapists to deal with the victims' post traumatic stress and other long-term needs. The process of recovery was often slow and painful.
The people she has seen were only the tip of the iceberg. They were the resilient ones who had escaped from their own country and sometimes from its jails, whilst most would remain often in custody and many died. The reasons for torture included the seeking of information to incriminate others often for political reasons. Many of the victims were critics of oppressive regimes or involved with opposition movements. The killing of family members in their sight was commonplace. Even those who had escaped and been granted asylum had still to live with the trauma and adjust to a life in an unknown country with language and employment difficulties. If they had been smuggled from their home countries they could be at the mercy of criminal gangs and some ended up in prostitution.
She felt that what was being seen was the "suffering face of Christ". It could be overwhelming and there was a lot of pressure on those lawyers engaged in representing the victims as the number of specialist immigration lawyers was few and because of the fast track system operated by the immigration courts. She felt that the courts were also subject to political expectations and it was important for us to recognise that we may all be subject to the circumstances that predispose to torture. It was necessary to acknowledge the darkness in ourselves and be aware of the structural collusion that involved Pilate in the death of Christ.
She felt there were many ways, however, in which we can all contribute to the care of victims - whether in the community, in detention centres or suffering in their home country. We needed to be kept well informed and active in standing up for them, in offering hospitality and comfort and fund raising. She mentioned other groups, such as Medical Justice, who are active in seeking improvements in medical care and the end of abuses in UK detention centres.
For her and other Christians it would be difficult to work in this field if they did not have faith in the ultimate victory of the cross.
Re-elected the present officers, reviewed previous meetings and newsletters, and received a financial statement. It then welcomed Dr Ginns, a new member from Cheltenham The meeting then discussed the successful reversal of the decision by the Worcestershire Acute NHS Trust to make the chaplains in the three county Hospitals redundant earlier this year. There followed action in Parliament by the county MPs the bishop of Worcester, a local press campaign with support from the City Council and at public meeting with the Trust. Finally, the bishops met the Trust chairman and a compromise was reached saving the posts. The branch was involved throughout.
Annual Symposium of the Guild
"Catholics in Healthcare"
Manchester Conference Centre
Sackvill Street
26 / 27th April 2008
details from:-
enquiries@catholicdoctors.org.uk
Federation European Associations Medicale
The 11th Congress will be held in Gdansk, Poland
"Natural Law and Statute Law in Contemporary European Medicine"
11th - 14th September 2008
further information from
Dr I Jessiman
Guild of Catholic Doctors,
Hospital St John and St Elizabeth
60 Grove End Rd.
London
NW8 9NH
Urgent Request for information
Please note that the RCOG and RCPsychiatry want to hear from doctors who have had patients with post abortion symptoms as part of their consultation with the Department of Health, and in connection with current parliamentary debates.
Please contact the Colleges if you have information arising from your clinical practice