Sondra Crosby is an American medical doctor and Professor of Medicine at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with ...

, specializing in internal medicine. She is also a faculty member of the Health Law, Bioethics and Human Rights department at the Boston University School of Public Health. Crosby is notable for being one of the first doctors allowed to travel to Guantanamo to independently examine Guantanamo captives. Crosby is notable for serving as the director of medical care at the Boston Center for Refugee Health and Human Rights. She examined over 300 torture victims at the Center. Crosby is one of the authors of '' Broken Laws, Broken Lives: Medical Evidence of Torture by the US'', published by

Physicians for Human Rights Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) is a US-based not-for-profit human rights NGO that uses medicine and science to document and advocate against mass atrocities and severe human rights violations around the world. PHR headquarters are in New ...

. According to Physicians for Human Rights Crosby has ''"written over 200 affidavits documenting medical and psychological sequelae of torture."'' In October 2009 Crosby submitted an affidavit following her examination of Guantanamo's longest term

hunger striker A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...

Abdul Rahman Shalabi Abdul Rahman Shalabi is a citizen of Saudi Arabia held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internee Security Number is 42. Shalabi arrived on January 11, 2002, the day the camp ...

. She stated that if he didn't receive more calories he would die. Crosby was one of the first doctors outside the DoD who was allowed to examine Guantanamo captives. In October 2012 Crosby wrote a letter about Tariq al-Sawah's medical condition to camp authorities. Crosby had examined al-Sawah on two occasions and described him as

morbidly obese Obesity is a risk factor for many chronic physical and mental illnesses. The health effects of being overweight but not obese are controversial, with some studies showing that the mortality rate for individuals who are classified as overweight ( ...

, and laid out a treatment plan. His lawyer, Lieutenant Colonel Sean Gleason, said in March 2013 that camp authorities had declined to treat al-Sawah, and wouldn't even release his medical records. In January 2018, Crosby traveled to the Ecuadorian embassy in London to examine Julian Assange.

Honors and awards

* The Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award, presented by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation, 2008

References

External links

Video - Sondra Crosby, MD
at Broken Laws, Broken Lives
Doctors Blast Guantanamo Treatment as Unethical

Truthout Truthout is a non-profit news organization which describes itself as "dedicated to providing independent reporting and commentary on a diverse range of social justice issues". Truthout's main areas of focus include mass incarceration, prison a ...

1 August 2007 {{DEFAULTSORT:Crosby, Sondra Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Boston University faculty Place of birth missing (living people)