Albar A A
Family & Community Medicine Department, College of Medicine and Medical Sciences, King Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
J Family Community Med. 1995 Jul;2(2):21-6.
Ethical issues in medical practice are increasing in number, diversity and complexity and posing professional diemmas for physicians. It is the duty of Muslim physicians in collaboration with jurists, to resolve these issues.
These guidelines aim at answering the following two questions: 1. On religious grounds to what extent is a Muslim patient bound ground to accept surgical treatment requiring permanent diversion of stool and urine? 2. What should be the role of medical staff in convincing the patient aril his relatives to accept diversion stomas.
A Muslim patient needing a permanent diversion stoma has a religiously proven duty to listen to the instructions of a proficient physician in order to save himself if safety is most probable. Carrying a stoma bag does not interfere totally with patients purity. The exact role of medical staff in convincing the patient and his relatives to accept the procedure is discussed.