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Can Muslim Doctors Refuse to Treat You?

Do Muslim doctors have the right to refuse treatment to an alcoholic or an individual with an STD?

Well, some Muslim medical students in Britain, due to their religious beliefs, are refusing to attend lectures or answer exam questions on alcohol-related or sexually transmitted diseases. Some are even going so far as to refuse treatment to a member of the opposite sex.

The article, posted on Times Online, reports:

The [General Medical Council] said it had received requests for guidance over whether students could “omit parts of the medical curriculum and yet still be allowed to graduate.” Professor Peter Rubin, chairman of the GMC’s education committee, said: “Examples have included a refusal to see patients who are affected by diseases caused by alcohol or sexual activity, or a refusal to examine patients of a particular gender.”

He added that “prejudicing treatment on the grounds of patients’ gender or their responsibility for their condition would run counter to the most basic principles of ethical medical practice.”

When did we give doctors the ability to pick-and-choose their patients? If a doctor treats an alcoholic, is he condoning alcoholism? Of course not.

If Muslim doctors refuse to provide the same services to both men and women—and treat ALL diseases—then they should not become doctors. It disgusts me when doctors and pharmacists anywhere in the world deny men and women basic access to medical care due to their religious beliefs. We see it everywhere in the United States when pharmacists refuse to fill a woman’s birth control prescription. What will stop Muslim doctors from refusing patients who do not share a belief in Allah? When will it end?

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This entry was posted by Maggie on October 10, 2007 at 2:11 pm and is filed under Ethics and Morals, International Affairs. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
  • http://boredbeyondbelief.wordpress.com Joe G.

    It is a troubling development when health care professionals refuse to provide basic medical services (or refuse to learn basic medical information) based on religious beliefs. Talk about picking and choosing. Thus far I only know of fundamentalist Christians refusing to fill prescriptions but not of any Muslim physicians refusing care. But it’s worth keeping an eye open for future problems.

    Isn’t God good?

  • Kuya

    Even so, His followers can sometimes be some mean-hearted, doctrinaire s.o.b.s. Thankfully this isn’t the norm, but it’s still too common.

    It’s the identity-pathology of the age of decolonization. In order to feel Muslim in Britain (I’ll speculate that these doctor candidates are from former imperial possessions, e.g. Pakistan or India), many youthful second-generation Muslims apparently think they have to play the part to the extreme hilt, to make it as clear as they can that they’re “NOT BRITISH!” It’s as much a way of registering their unhappiness with their parents’ choice to go to the UK as anything else. They’re not truly Pakistani or Indian, either. It’s rough sometimes for Third-Culture Kids (those raised outside their “home” culture).

    In a way it’s predictable in this period of history, but as for them getting their license to practice medicine, there should be no special dispensations. They can either meet the standard or change their professional direction. Muslim docs have been licensed in the UK before, without any such nonsense. Once licensed, if they won’t treat women or gays or alcoholics or whatnot, patients will simply go to other docs who will treat them. And if they leave themselves open to charges of illegal discrimination, the confrontations may actually be beneficial for society.

  • EviL James

    Why shouldn’t those entering into the health care field be required to take an oath (and sign legally binding documentation) to provide equal care for all patients, indiscriminate of race, gender, or lifestyle?

    Why should med school student’s religiosity trump standards of fair treatment for all?

  • Siddique

    I am a practicing Muslim from Bangladesh (88% Muslim). In my country a Muslim doctor who refused to treat an alcoholic, treat someone with STD, or attend a lecture on these topics would be sacked. There should not be ANY exceptions! I would tell my brother and sisters in Islam to select another profession if they are unable to perform their duties as physicians and treat ALL patients equally. That applies to sisters who do not feel comfortable treating men. Unless you are an OBGYN, change professions ASAP. Salaam.

  • Meganstanway

    What steps should be taken to de-register Muslim doctors who refuse to teat women’s diseases?

  • Open Your Eyes

    The ignorance that permeates within the general population of the West is often baffling. It should be noted that male Muslim doctors refuse to treat females, not because females are not equal to males, but because Muslim males are not allowed to look and touch “non-mahram” females. A female Muslim doctor can not treat a male either. There are
    exceptions, however, when the situation is dire and their is no
    professional of the same sex available to treat the patient. Islam
    condones the equality between men and women, and never are women
    considered lower than men. Only the wife and close female relatives are “mahram” to a male. “Mahram” females are those women that the male is allowed to look at with the exception of private parts. The only female a Muslim male can fully look at with lust and sexual desire is his wife. There is no other female in the world that he can intentionally look at with any sort of lust. This is considered a great sin in Islam. These rules apply to women as well in regards to men. Consider how effective these rules would be in preventing so many of the problems the West faces in regards to adultery and children born out of wedlock. Westerners believe that they have attained freedom, because they have no restrictions and can do whatever they desire. There exists no sort of modesty or morality in much of the West from what I have experienced. Women walk around with barely any clothes on and the men hold no sort of inhibition or suppression of their sexual desires. *Note that Islam considers even a lustful look at any women other than the wife a tantamount sin. The nightclubs, alcohol, and music all add to the blatant immorality. Therefore, men and women, as well, engage in a huge sin simply by looking, and yet they do not even realize. Promiscuity is even openly encouraged and bragged about by some, rather than hidden as a blemish from the public eye. What is the difference then between an animal and a man? Just because the Western culture is bereft of any sort of morality does not mean that Islam is as well. Westerners believe that they have attained freedom by removing restrictions that religion “unnecessarily” imposes. They are free, because in the West a woman does not have to cover herself. No one is restricted from alcohol, dancing, partying, and music. No longer exist the chains of some antiquated religion. Isn’t this the ultimate freedom? No, this could not be further from the truth. The difference is simple. In the West, people have can slaves of their desire, while Muslims are slaves of Allah. Islam is a solution to all of the moral vices that exist. In the end do note this: Islam respects women so much that it protects them from the lustful looks and prohibited touching of other men. How then can you say that women are unequal to men?