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Howard S. Rubenstein, MD
Harvard University Cambridge, Mass

JAMA. 1986;256(8):998.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.—

The editorial, "Toward the Prevention of Torture," by Dr Lundberg and Ms Knoll¹ has confounded the appropriate condemnation of physician participation in torture with the inappropriate defense of a quasi-historical, quasi-scientific religious article published in a major medical and scientific journal.²

The editorial says that the article was published, in part, because the editor considered it "a pathological analysis" (apparently no pun intended). This explanation lacks credibility because the article was by no means analytic (it was, if anything, synthetic) and because no amount of history, even when it is factual, can take the place of an authentic autopsy³—a position the editor himself has championed in the past.⁴ Had he said that he published the article because it supported his religious beliefs, he would at least have had credibility.

In the editorial, the death of Jesus was placed in juxtaposition with physician participation . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Footnotes
Edited by Drummond Rennie, MD, Senior Contributing Editor; Sharon Iverson, Assistant Editor.

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