Islamic jurisprudential and ethical considerations of practicing medical procedures on nearly dead patients: Part II (Shiite jurisprudents’ viewpoints)

Abstract

Part one of the present study presented practical Islamic jurisprudential rules and investigated their application to performing medical procedures on nearly dead patients. It was contended that a dying patient could be used in medical education in cases where there is no alternative method, provided the patient voluntarily consents and is not offended. Part two of the present study addresses the issue by referring to the opinions of Islamic jurisprudents to find an appropriate solution to a challenging question in medicine, namely, whether clinical training of medical students on the dying person is permissible. For this purpose, istiftas (petitions or requests for a fatwa) were sent to prominent contemporary Shiite jurisprudents to solicit their opinions on the use of dying patients for medical education. After exploring the existing views, it was finally concluded that the majority of the jurisprudents allowed the practice in cases of “necessity” and provided that the principles of “no harm” and “consent” were strictly observed. All these terms are found in jurisprudential rules, and we reached the conclusion that Shiite jurisprudents considered this type of training permissible under certain circumstances and in accordance with jurisprudential rules.