{"id":106535,"date":"2014-01-21T15:01:34","date_gmt":"2014-01-21T13:01:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/?p=106535"},"modified":"2014-01-21T15:03:20","modified_gmt":"2014-01-21T13:03:20","slug":"physicians-for-human-rights-turkish-president-signs-bill-that-criminalizes-emergency-medical-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2014\/01\/21\/physicians-for-human-rights-turkish-president-signs-bill-that-criminalizes-emergency-medical-care\/","title":{"rendered":"Turkish President Signs Bill that Criminalizes Emergency Medical Care"},"content":{"rendered":"

Turkish President Signs Bill that Criminalizes Emergency Medical Care<\/p>\n

PHR and Leading Medical Groups Oppose the Legislation<\/p>\n

Media Contact<\/span><\/p>\n

Vesna Jaksic Lowe, MS<\/p>\n

Media Relations Manager, New York<\/p>\n

vjaksiclowe [at] phrusa [dot] org<\/p>\n

Tel: 917-679-0110<\/p>\n

New York, NY – 01\/17\/2014<\/p>\n

\"ELCINphoto-800_550\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) expressed concern today over the Turkish president\u2019s signing of a bill that will criminalize certain aspects of emergency care, and punish medical professionals with fines and jail time for providing care in emergencies.<\/p>\n

PHR, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health, the World Medical Association, the British Medical Association, the German Medical Association, and other leading medical groups have all criticized the bill, which could compromise everyone\u2019s access to emergency medical care in Turkey.<\/p>\n

\u201cPassing a bill that criminalizes emergency care and punishes those who care for injured protestors is part of the Turkish government\u2019s relentless effort to silence any opposing voices,\u201d said Dr. Vincent Iacopino, PHR\u2019s senior medical advisor. \u201cThis kind of targeting of the medical community is not only repugnant, but puts everyone\u2019s health at risk. The legislation conflicts with Turkey\u2019s own laws, and must now be blocked through Turkey\u2019s constitutional court.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to violating international standards and medical ethics, the bill conflicts with the Turkish Penal Code, which makes it a crime for doctors to neglect their duty of providing medical care.<\/p>\n

Abdullah G\u00fcl, president of the Turkish Republic, today signed the bill into law. Medical professionals could be imprisoned for up to three years and fined up to approximately $985,000 for providing essential medical services. The bill will put doctors in direct conflict with their ethical and professional responsibilities to care for the sick and wounded. It is part of the Turkish government\u2019s continuing effort to harass the medical community for treating those in need, including demonstrators injured during last summer\u2019s anti-government protests.<\/p>\n

PHR has documented the Turkish authorities\u2019 unlawful use of force and tear gas, as well as deliberate attacks on the medical community. PHR\u2019s report on last summer\u2019s protests discussed the authorities\u2019 detention of medical staff who treated those injured by the police, as well as the government\u2019s efforts to collect the names of injured demonstrators and those treating them.<\/p>\n

via Physicians for Human Rights – Turkish President Signs Bill that Criminalizes Emergency Medical Care.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Turkish President Signs Bill that Criminalizes Emergency Medical Care PHR and Leading Medical Groups Oppose the Legislation Media Contact Vesna Jaksic Lowe, MS Media Relations Manager, New York vjaksiclowe [at] phrusa [dot] org Tel: 917-679-0110 New York, NY – 01\/17\/2014 Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) expressed concern today over the Turkish president\u2019s signing of a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":106537,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[4183,9327],"class_list":["post-106535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-turkey","tag-health","tag-phr"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106535\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}