Director of the Aging Brains/Elder Protection Project and the United Nations International Comparative Neurolaw Curriculum Project at the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Law, Brain & Behavior in Boston.
Assistant professor of pediatrics and faculty member in the Center for Bioethics at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts.
AMA J Ethics. 2024 Oct 1;26(10):E784-794. doi: 10.1001/amajethics.2024.784.
Sleep is integral to human health and well-being; it is recognized as a fundamental right by international bodies. Nevertheless, deliberate sleep deprivation is frequently employed as a form of torture, violating the right to health. Legal cases such as LeMaire v Maass, Ireland v UK, and Huertas v Secretary Pennsylvania Dept of Corrections illustrate the varying interpretations of sleep deprivation as torture or cruel and unusual punishment. Ambiguity in domestic and international legal definitions underscores the need for collaboration between health and legal professionals. Clinicians can offer expertise about physiological and psychological consequences of sleep deprivation, which informs what legally counts as torture. This commentary explores the intersection of sleep deprivation, human rights, and the role of medical professionals in addressing, identifying, and preventing sleep deprivation as a means of coercion and abuse.
睡眠对人类健康和福祉至关重要；它被国际机构视为一项基本权利。然而，蓄意剥夺睡眠经常被用作一种酷刑形式，侵犯了健康权。勒梅尔诉马阿案、爱尔兰诉联合王国案以及埃尔塔斯诉宾夕法尼亚州惩教部案等法律案件说明了对剥夺睡眠作为酷刑或残忍和异常惩罚的不同解释。国内和国际法律定义的模糊性突出了卫生和法律专业人员之间合作的必要性。临床医生可以提供关于剥夺睡眠的生理和心理后果的专业知识，这为法律上的酷刑提供了依据。本评论探讨了剥夺睡眠、人权以及医疗专业人员在解决、识别和防止剥夺睡眠作为胁迫和虐待手段方面的作用之间的交叉点。
