Khader Adnan's death in prison: A preventable crisis - opinion

Following a series of security events which we recently faced, it is incumbent upon us to do some serious examination, without the involvement of political considerations. The events began with the death of a hunger-striking prisoner, Khader Adnan, and then deteriorated in an almost predictable manner. But with some different behavior on our part, much of the crisis could have been avoided.

Why was the death of Adnan not prevented by force-feeding him when his health deteriorated seriously? The answer is that the Israel Medical Association accepts the position of the World Medical Association that it is forbidden to force-feed a hunger-striking protesting prisoner.

Such a step is regarded as a violation of the autonomy of the prisoner. But it is important to be aware that this view is far from a unanimous international consensus and from Israeli court decisions.

Israel's history of hunger-striking prisoners

In 2005, in the case of a hunger-striking Yemenite prisoner, a district court judge, Sarah Sirota, ordered him sent to the hospital for force-feeding, stating, “Both the legislature and the Supreme Court have ruled that in the competition between the two rights, that for life on the one hand and for dignity on the other hand, the right to life and health has precedence.”

Back in 1985, in a Supreme Court decision, Justice Moshe Bejski stated: “I believe that the principle of sanctity of life and its rescue, as a supreme value, justify our stance not to adhere to those rules, which adhere rigidly to forbidding interference in the body of an individual without his/her permission, without regard to the consequences... when an individual is in danger of certain death or is expected to suffer serious harm to his/her health, one is definitely allowed to perform surgery or other procedures to the individual, even without his consent.”

Israel’s Patient’s Rights Law also permits coerced treatment in spite of the patient’s refusal, under certain conditions.

An impressive list of Israeli experts in bioethics, including several recipients of the Israel Prize, published a position statement supporting the forced treatment of a hunger striker when he reaches a state of danger to his life or serious damage to his health.

Should Israeli prison guards force-feed hunger-striking prisoners?

In 2015, the Knesset passed a special law that permits the forced feeding of a hunger-striking prisoner under special circumstances in order to prevent death or serious harm to health. The Israel Medical Association appealed to the Supreme Court against this law. But the Supreme Court, by a unanimous decision, upheld the legality of the law.

A number of democratic countries, including the UK, France, Germany, Switzerland and Australia, as well as the European Court of Human Rights, permit force-feeding to rescue the life of a fasting prisoner.

Let us think how much of what’s been occurring recently we would have been spared if we would have saved the life of Adnan, in the spirit of Jewish culture and without violating ethical norms.

The writer is a professor (emeritus) of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.