title: Handling hunger strikers.
abstract: Hunger strikes are being used increasingly and not only by those with a political point to make. Whereas in the past, hunger strikes in the United Kingdom seemed mainly to be started by terrorist prisoners for political purposes, the most recent was begun by a Tamil convicted of murder, to protest his innocence. In the later stages of his strike, before calling it off, he was looked after at the Hammersmith Hospital. So it is not only prison doctors who need to know how to handle a hunger strike. The following guidelines, adopted by the 43rd World Medical Assembly in Malta in November 1991, are therefore a timely reminder of the doctor's duties during a hunger strike.
mesh_terms: D004750:Enteral Nutrition / Q000941:ethics*; D005215:Fasting; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006801:Humans; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D010819:Physician's Role; D011057:Politics; D013217:Starvation / Q000628:therapy