A History of Force Feeding
Hunger Strikes, Prisons and Medical Ethics, 1909-1974
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It is the first monograph-length study of the force-feeding of hunger strikers in English, Irish and Northern Irish prisons. It examines ethical debates that arose throughout the twentieth century when governments authorised the force-feeding of imprisoned suffragettes, Irish republicans and convict prisoners. It also explores the fraught role of prison doctors called upon to perform the procedure. Since the Home Office first authorised force-feeding in 1909, a number of questions have been raised about the procedure. Is force-feeding safe? Can it kill? Are doctors who feed prisoners against their will abandoning the medical ethical norms of their profession? And do state bodies use prison doctors to help tackle political dissidence at times of political crisis?
Keywords
force-feeding; northern irish prisons; hunger strikers; irish prisons; ethics; prison doctors; SuffragetteDOI
10.1007/978-3-319-31113-5ISBN
9783319311135OCN
969771902Publisher
Springer NaturePublisher website
https://www.springernature.com/gp/products/booksPublication date and place
Basingstoke, 2016Grantor
Imprint
Palgrave MacmillanClassification
Social and cultural history
History of science
Pages
267Chapters in this book
- Chapter 7 An Experience Much Worse Than Rape
- Chapter 3 The Instrument of Death
- Chapter 8 Conclusion
- Chapter 5 I've Heard Food Queues, but This Is the First Time I've Ever Heard of a Feeding Queue!
- Chapter 2 A Prostitution of the Profession?
- Chapter 1 Introduction
- Chapter 6 I Would Have Gone on with the Hunger Strike, but Force-Feeding I Could Not Take
- Chapter Bibliography
- Chapter Acknowledgements
- Chapter 4 A Few Deaths from Hunger Is Nothing