Directed by U.S. military and intelligence agencies , doctors and psychologists working in U.S. military detention centres have reportedly violated their ethical agreements when dealing with terror detainees. These charges have been made in a task force report released by the Institute on Medicine as a Profession. The independent task force included a panel of authorities from military, ethics, medical, public health, and legal domains.

The Task Force on Preserving Medical Professionalism in National Security Detention Centers found that since the 9/11 attack, the Department of Defense (DoD) and CIA inappropriately asked health professionals working with U.S. military and intelligence agencies to collaborate in intelligence gathering and security practices. The procedures used by these professionals, under directions from the U.S. intelligence agencies inflicted severe harm to the detainees in U.S. custody.

The report titled Ethics Abandoned: Medical Professionalism and Detainee Abuse in the War on Terror, is based on two years of review of records in the public domain by a 19-member task force. It details how DoD and CIA policies institutionalized a variety of interventions by military and intelligence agency doctors and psychologists that breach ethical standards.

"Military and intelligence-agency physicians and other health professionals, particularly psychologists, became involved in the design and administration of that harsh treatment and torture-- in clear conflict with established international and national professional principles and laws," the report says.

According to the report, these practices included "designing, participating in, and enabling torture and cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment" of detainees in custody.

"The American public has a right to know that the covenant with its physicians to follow professional ethical expectations is firm regardless of where they serve," said Dr. Gerald Thomson, Professor Emeritus of Medicine at Columbia University and member of the Task Force.

"It's clear that in the name of national security the military trumped that covenant, and physicians were transformed into agents of the military and performed acts that were contrary to medical ethics and practice. We have a responsibility to make sure this never happens again."

The Task Force report, calls on the DoD and CIA to follow standards of medical conduct so as to enable doctors and psychologists to adhere to their ethical principles. The panel also urges professional medical associations and the American Psychological Association to further strengthen its ethical standards relating to detainee interrogations.