So true, in a very specific and literary sense, that it is faboulus hillarious! Or is it the other way around? My lifetime ends with the hearth valve warranty...

Back on topic: You may be surprised to find that both modern medicine and medievial torture has the very best intentions for the long term velvare of the patient (deliquent)? The difference is that modern medicine tries its very best to save the earthly flesh, whereas medieval torture does the exactly oposite. The idea is that your body is just a disposable, short-lived container of not much interest anyway -- what matters is the choices affecting your eternal afterlife. Confess your sins, and your soul may be saved from eternal damnation. So the torturer is in fact doing you a favour!

And if an innocent person is wrongfully subject to such treatment... well, the innocent goes straight to heaven anyway, a little torture is just a way to speed up the process. The phrase "patient consent" does strike me at somewhat relevant in this context...