سال:1386 | دوره: | شماره: |تعداد مقالات:9

The new biomedical sciences and technologies have been associated with increasing ethical debates worldwide in particular in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Advances in genetic engineering, stem cell research, cloning and organ transplantation are some of the medical issues that have raised ethical concerns. Considering ever-increasing renewed interest in medical ethics in the country, great strides have been made in this field in recent decades.In this article, our aim is to present a brief review of current medical ethics activities including establishment of Medical Ethics Research Committees, Medical Ethics Research Center, compiling a strategic plan for medical ethics activities, and implementation of the general and specific National Codes of ethics in Biomedical Research. Reforming medical ethics education in medical universities is also stated. Some future plans are also pointed out.

Due to advancement and innovations in biotechnologies lunch genetic screening applications of stem cell in medicine and sophisticated life- support technologies, many bioethical challenges have been raised. Advances in medicine have greatly improved possibilities to treat seriously ill patients and to prolong life. Medical decision-making for patients with life-threatening diseases increasingly entails a balanced consideration of medical, ethical, psychosocial, and societal aspects.Currently, end of life issues are one of the top 10 health care ethics challenges facing the public. Euthanasia, withholding and withdrawing treatments, physician-assisted suicide, do not resuscitate (DNR) orders, advance care planning, refusal of treatments, consent, quality of end of life care and advance directives are the main debates in this field.In this paper, we have discussed briefly the main ethical issues of ending life in brief, including the religious. We have also applied a case-based approach to clarify Islamic perspective on the issues. 

The approaches to cancer management are changing and the patients are living longer. However there are various ethical issues that cancer patients and families are facing in the health care setting.In this paper, along with cancer ethical issues, we are going to explain Islamic viewpoints with referring to some cases. We obtained the data by searching databases in PubMed, Iran Medex, Ovid sources and some other relevant articles and books.We will discuss themes of truth-telling, informed consent, end of life issues, decision-making for the seriously ill patients, advance statements about treatment (Living wills), allocation of recourses, research ethics, screening programs, cancer genetics and epidemiological studies. Then the Islamic views will be stated considering two cases.This review intends to provide health care professionals a basic knowledge about the main issues in cancer ethics in order to facilitate their decision-making in clinical practice.

The normative implications of the conception of human dignity affects on both secular and religious moral thoughts as they pertain to a range of human life issues, including health care ethics. In this article I discuss the main Islamic viewpoints regarding human dignity and their implications in Islamic bioethics.This article offers my comprehension of the literature on human dignity and its implications in Islamic bioethics.Human dignity is one of the most emphasized theme in the Holy Qur’an. There are two main theological schools in Islamic tradition which are called: Ash’ariyyah and Mu’tazilah.According to Ash’ariyyah thoughts, human dignity is based on the explicit arguments in the scripture but in the Mu’tazilah’s thoughts, concepts such as human dignity could have independent logical basis. Accordingly, they could be found by reason and emphasized by the scripture.Using human dignity as a reliable basis which is emphasized by the scripture, it can shed light to many of contentious bioethical issues in the Islamic world.

The debate over abortion remains controversial as ever. This article offers an explanation of the main Islamic attitudes towards abortion and areas of need to change in the related rules and regulations in Islamic communities with a special attention to Iran.A selected collection of Islamic references, as well as discussions with experts have been used as a basis for discussion and interpretation of Islamic views.Almost all of Muslim scholars and authorities regard ethical dilemmas surrounding abortion as jurisprudential topics. Obviously, all schools of Islamic jurisprudence regard abortion as wrong and forbidden (Hiram). On the other hand, they allow abortion, before the point in time in which the ensoulment takes place, only when physicians declare with reasonable certainty that the continuation of pregnancy will endanger the woman's life or put her in intolerable difficulties. The Iranian parliament has ratified the Therapeutic Abortion Act, by which, therapeutic abortion should be based on diagnosis of such fetal or maternal diseases that go ahead to unbearable burden for the mother or endangering her health.The Therapeutic Abortion Act can be considered as a significant improvement regarding women’s health in an Islamic country. Such improvements show the inherent and valuable flexibility of Islamic jurisprudence encountering new emerging and difficult issues and would be promising for greater advancements in the future.

Euthanasia which is defined generally as the deliberate killing of a person for his/her benefit, raises moral and religious questions such as: is it ever right for another person to end the life of a terminally ill patient who is in severe pain or enduring other suffering? Under what circumstances euthanasia is right? In this article we are going to discuss this topic from Islamic perspective through reviewing Islamic primary texts and contemporary Muslim scholar’s point of views.We have used three main sources: a. the Islamic primary source, Holy Koran; b. religious opinions and decrees (Fatwas) from great Muslim scholars; and c. the Islamic codes of medical ethics.Islamic jurisprudence, based on a convincing interpretation of the holy Koran, does not recognize a person’s right to die voluntarily. According to Islamic teachings, life is a divine trust and can not be terminated by any form of active or passive voluntary intervention.There are two instances, however, that could be interpreted as passive assistance in allowing a terminally ill patient to die and would be permissible by Islamic law.

Organ transplantation is the best and sometimes the only therapeutic method for some eligible patients. Unfortunately organ donation with altruistic intentions does not satisfy the big gap between supply and demand. The solution to this obstacle could be enriching the organ pool. As a result, living donation is being considered more seriously today. Many transplants experts believe that offering some kind of financial incentives to organ donors could act parallel to altruism. Although financial incentives have been proved to shorten the waiting lists, it seems the usage of it needs more ethical considerations. This paper has reviewed the ethical approaches to this dilemma.“organ transplantation”, “kidney transplantation”, “ethics” and “organ transplantation”, “financial incentives” and “organ transplantation”, “Islamic views” and “organ transplantation”, “ethical principles” and “organ transplantation”, “Iranian model” and “transplantation” were used as keywords for a systematic search in Pubmed and Ovid databases.It is suggested that organ shortage problems can be solved by establishing controlled donor compensation programs. From an Islamic ethical point of view Iranian model for kidney donation, despite its minor shortcomings could be considered acceptable. This model has the potential for revising, extending and using for other organ transplantation systems.

Despite the progresses and attentions made to ethics education in Iran, little is known about the situation of undergraduate ethics education. Therefore, we undertook a study to assess the status of medical ethics education in medical faculties of Iran.Three questionnaires were sent to 32 state medical faculties. A reminding letter was sent to the cases with no response one month later. Finally, the questionnaires were collected and the data were analyzed by SPSS.A total of twenty two out of thirty two medical schools completed the questionnaire (68%). All of the medical universities offered formal ethics education as a two-unit course. A structured (separate and distinct) ethics department, especially devoted to learning and teaching ethics existed already in six universities (27.3%), the number of teachers was five and fewer in 18 universities. Four respondents described the existence of one or two full - time ethics teachers; one full-time teacher in three universities and two in one university. The majority of medical ethics teachers tended to hold MDs, there were structured and distinct curriculum for teaching ethics in eleven medical faculties.The whole findings showed good resources of ethics teaching in undergraduate ethics course in recent years, yet it is still major shortages. Efforts have to be done to establish specific departments for ethics to train qualified teachers and especially allocate enough funds for development of ethics education.

The dentists are completely aware of the growth of ethical standards in their profession. The recent growth of ethical literature has been significant in this profession but it is far behind the medical profession in the term of ethical analysis of dental problems. Fortunately, as a consequence of increasing attention to ethical standards, the patients are paid attention better and receive better services. The profession also makes a commitment to society that its members will adhere to high ethical standards of conduct. This paper has reviewed ethical principles in dentistry in order to enlighten preferred practical values.We have reviewed the literature from the past 20 years that had been recovered through a PubMed, Embase and Cochrane search, with the keywords of “dental ethics”, (“ethical principles” And “dentistry”) and (“ethical principles” And “dental practice”), included in professional guidelines and ethical codes, conference proceedings and suggested by experts.Experts on dental and medical ethics were also consulted.The dentists have a duty to conduct their professional life, in accordance with the four fundamental principles of ethics, but despite their reasonability, the principles have a prima facie standing and the dentist is to decide which principles are to be applied in accordance with the cultural, social, religious and regional considerations.