RESPECTING MUSLIM PATIENTS' NEEDS

RESPECTING MUSLIM PATIENTS' NEEDS
By Roni Caryn Rabin, New York Times, 11/1/10

A woman in her mid-30s wearing a hijab, the traditional Muslim head covering, comes to an urgent care center complaining of leg pain. The first thing she asks: “Are there any woman doctors around?"

She declines to be alone in an exam room with a male doctor. She does not want to be touched by a man who is not a family member, even as part of a medical examination.

It's a hypothetical situation, recounted in a new paper in The Journal of Medical Ethics, but the scenario neatly summarizes some of the dilemmas confronting health care workers in hospitals serving observant Muslim patients. When the traditional health care system cannot accommodate their needs, what are doctors and nurses to do?

Dr. Aasim I. Padela, an emergency room physician at the University of Michigan, has some ideas. In the new paper, published on Monday, he explains the basic tenets of Islamic medical ethics, with recommendations about accommodating Muslim sensitivities within the health care system. (More)