10/05/11
The American Nurses Association’s
(ANA) Communications Department provides the following statement attributable to
ANA President Karen A. Daley, PhD, MPH, RN, FAAN:
“The American Nurses Association (ANA) strongly condemns the Bahraini
judicial system for imposing unjust prison sentences on 20 health care
professionals, including nurses, who adhered to their ethical duty by treating
wounded political protesters during a period of civil unrest last spring. ANA
calls on the Bahrain government to reverse these court decisions, including the
shameful 15-year sentence handed down to Roula Jassim Mohammed al-Saffar, a
leader of the Bahrain Nursing Society.
Nurses and other health care professionals worldwide must remain free from
political persecution to carry out their professional and humane duty to provide
care to all people, regardless of ideological concerns.
The Code of Ethics for Nurses states that a fundamental principle underlying
all nursing practice is ‘respect for the inherent worth, dignity, and human
rights of every individual,’ and that ‘the need for health care is universal,
transcending all individual differences.’ The nurses and physicians in Bahrain
acted in accordance with their ethics and must not be punished in the name of
political oppression.”
The ANA is the United States member of the International Council of Nurses.