Iranian Journal of Diabetes and Metabolism
Year:2007 | Volume:7 | Issue:(24) (SUPPLEMENT, MEDICAL ETHICS)|Papers Count:10

During the Islamic empire (7th-13th centuries), medicine was promoted surprisingly and the most brilliant contributions were made by Muslim physicians. These advancements were the source of inspiration of medicine in the West after Renaissance. Currently, we are heirs of the unique knowledge of our ancestors. However, some intellectuals believe that the time of that kind of medicine is passed. Conversely, some consider it as an experimental medicine which could be used as a productive source of knowledge. This article draws on a literature review to examine the role of Islamic medicine in the emerging current of knowledge production. It begins with a brief review of the history of medicine during the Islamic era and is followed by debate on the nature of Islamic medicine. We conclude that the traditional medicine along with the recommendations of the Prophet (PBUH) and his successors, named Islamic medicine, is absolutely an experimental science and should be considered as a research subject in academic settings in accompany with modern medicine.

The ethical issues of end of life decisions making are widespread. Nowadays, physicians constantly involve patients whose lives could be prolonged by new medical treatments and advanced technologies. There are debates on medical futility, quality of life, and justice in such cases. Sometimes the health could not be restored and physicians only can provide for patients a comfortable natural death through palliative care. End of life decisions in the case of brain death, Persistent Vegetative State, and Minimally Conscious State would be very different and challenging. The issue of "Death with Dignity" and defining a good death is also a main matter. On occasion that the life is full of pain and suffering, allowing a person to die, Do-not-resuscitate order, withholding and withdrawing medical treatments (such as Mechanical ventilation), and even euthanasia and physicianassisted suicide are suggested as justified decisions by some practitioners. In some countries, legal approaches like "advance directives" facilitate the process of decision making.However, ethical issues and the related decisions are shaped by many factors. Among these factors, religious values are considered as one of the most influential factor. This article will discuss the ethics of end of life, focusing on religious viewpoints about end of life dilemmas, and the way religious beliefs have affected medical practice at the end of life. The teachings of Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam about death and dying process are reviewed in brief.

Ending of life is a critical decision which must be made with accountability and through a process of consultation with patient and some experts. The main challenge facing the ethics of end-of-life care is to avoid decisions contrary to patient's religious belief. The rights of individuals, near death, should be safeguarded and their interests at terminal stages of life should be respected. It is noteworthy that the religion is the most important factor we have in coping with dilemmas near the end of life. More than one forth of the world population are Muslims; therefore understanding their attitudes about this critical issue is imperative.We aim to state the main concepts of Islamic teachings about the death and end of life debates. The dilemmas will be discussed through some clinical cases.

The terminally ill patients simultaneously experience two different pains: physical and psychological. What lie at the root of the psychological pain are two existential sufferings: solitude and absurdity. These two sufferings threaten all people quality of life, but they threaten the quality of these patients' life much more than the others. The purpose of this article is to describe the second suffering (absurdity) and to show the relation between the cognition of this suffering and the matter of sympathy with these patients.

After a short introduction about the situation and the present importance of medical ethics, key words and definitions have been preceded. Then a brief report on different theories rose in ethics philosophy and the relation of these theories to medical ethics have been presented. At the conclusion part, the relation between ethical philosophies of holy Islam and medicine has been discussed. It has been explained that ethical behavior of experts and researchers in medical sciences, is an internal behavior in accordance with ethical Islamic principles. Taken together, medical ethics should be internalized in people in order to be educated and performed in the society. In the principals of Islamic ethics, intention is the basis of good & evil action and the value of ethics. In the Islamic fundamental view, not only being nice is not sufficient for doing ethical action, but also good intention of actor is important. Good intention and good behavior will bring salvation for the men. In the other word in Islam, ethics is internal and the moral act originates from faith to God and afterlife.

Human biological samples have been one of the best resources for research and education for years. Recent development in sequencing DNA led to numerous studies that need large amounts of human tissue samples. On the other side, because of the lack of needed equipments for analyzing these samples in developing countries, most of these specimens must be sent to developed countries for final stages of the study. Also there are lots of studies about etiology and treatment of pandemic infectious diseases like AIDS and Hepatitis B, C in developed countries which need a large amount of human tissue samples; and developing countries could be their best suppliers because of the high prevalence of infectious diseases. Consequently human tissue samples are transported among countries. This transportation needs to be observed ethically and legally to prevent serious social harms. In this article there is a brief explanation about the definition and territory of human tissue samples, then some of the ethical issues related to import and export of human tissue will be mentioned. Also there is a valid review on ethical and legal guidelines for transporting human tissue samples, and finally national examples of ethical guideline will be proposed.

Along waiting lists in many countries either developed or less developed. In current decade, substantial efforts have been made to find medically and ethically justified models of organ transplantation. In Iran, a controlled living unrelated donor (LURD) program for kidney transplantation was adopted in 1988 out of necessity as an approach for saving many lives. The current program, named "Iranian model of Kidney Transplantation" by some critics, has advantages and disadvantages. In this article, we aim to state some details about the Iranian model of kidney transplantation; its main results and some challenges. Moreover, we discuss the issue of organ transplantation from the ethical viewpoint and suggest some approaches for strengthening the current system.

In recent years, policy makers and health authorities have taken various steps to address organ demand in Iran. As a result of extensive efforts, including the adaptation of the controlled living unrelated donation program for kidney transplantation, the kidney transplant waiting list has been eliminated since 1999. Currently, the Iranian model of kidney transplantation is a culturally-adapted organ procurement system. However, we need to re-examine the current system and to strengthen it from the aspect of ethics. For this reason, it is necessary to compile an ethical guideline for organ transplantation. In this paper, the importance of the issue will be emphasized and some suggestions will be pointed out. We will also state a brief report of the first and the second Asian Task force on Organ Trafficking which was held in Taipei, in July, 2007 and January, 2008. Undoubtedly, a comprehensive practical ethical guideline consisting of a special attention to the prevention of kidney diseases, enhancing cadaveric donation, motivating altruistic donation, reinforcing ethical evaluation and supervision, and supporting donors' and recipients' rights would be very helpful for supporting the current system.

Alternative medicine encompasses a collection of treatment methods, like homeopathy, herbal medicine, chiropractic, acupuncture, Iranian traditional medicine, massage therapy and more. Formerly, some of these methods have had a principle role in treatment of diseases. Nowadays, the emergence of modern medicine, caused decrements in utilizing alternative medicine for at least one century, but considering unsuccessfulness of modern medicine in treating some diseases and side effects of drugs, using alternative medicine has risen again. Therefore, correct and under-control application of this branch of medicine can have a key role in medical sciences advancements. In the present article, firstly alternative medicine is described. The application of medical ethics principles, including autonomy, justice, non malfeasance, beneficences, and ethical guidelines to advocate the patient's rights in alternative medicine is presented later. Finally, considering these principles, increasing use of alternative medicine and providing a code of ethics in alternative medicine is recommended.

Background: In many developed countries, there are fundamental rights to regulate medical care providers' performance. Compilation of the patient's rights charter depends on society requirements in every country, but it seems there are some similarities between patient's rights charters of all countries. The aim of this study was to compare patient's rights charter of Iran with other countries.Methods: All medical ethics papers which published and presented in Iran and recorded in Medical Ethics Centre of Tehran University of Medical Sciences and patient's rights charters available in the website of chosen countries and WHO Regional Office were assessed for this study. The elements of these charters were compared with each other and with patient's rights charter of Iran.Results: Twenty nine elements of patient's rights charters were identified; 72.41% of all studied elements were observed in Council of European Union; and in New Zealand patient's rights charter only 10.34% of these elements were observed. In patients' rights charter of Iran, 20.68% of these elements were observed.Conclusion: Only 6 out of 29 elements of patient's rights charter are observed in Iran. Therefore, it seems that patient's rights charter of Iran is not sufficient and it needs to be improved.