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Last night I attended a talk by Dr. Aasim Padela (Asif’s older brother), Weill Medical College Class of 2005 on Medical Ethics in Religious Traditions. While unfortunately the turnout wasnt that great, it really was a great talk on a topic essential for all those who plan on entering the medical profession. Aasim started with an overview of ethics, and medical ethics in particular in Judaism, Christianity (Catholicism), and Islam. The similarities between the traditional view on ethics between Judaism and Islam were especially similar. The key points shared between the faiths regarding ethics were the emphasis on health and maintaining it being a sacred task, however still maintaining the sanctity and peace of illness and death as also being natural. Moreover, even amidst all the rulings of religious law (i.e. Halakah, or Shariah), exceptions can be made if necessary for the sake of one’s health and well being.

After going over ethics in the three faiths, he used gender relations as an example of how religious ethics can play a role in common interactions with patients. One key point Aasim made, which I had issues about, was how in fact physicians should take patients’ personal moral and religious backgrounds and traditions into consideration in treatment and consultations. Ideally it would be great to attain every patients individual background and level of religiousity and cultural background, however that is impractical. He added that one cannot even assume that someone with the name Goldberg is a Jew, or Muhammad, a Muslim. For even if they are, you cannot assume what their level of religiousity would be. Therefore, the most practical way to deal with this issue is to be as conservative as possible in the universal treatment of all patients. For example, in response to gender interactions, avoid all physical contact at all if possible. Keep a chaperone in the room when alone with a female patient if possible, or at least keep the room door ajar instead of completely closed. And above all else, try to put the patient feel like she is in control. Keep talking to her and ask her about what you have to do. Often times patients feel intimidated or even inferior to their doctors and feel like they must comply with everything they say. By asking the patient if you can perform a certain even routine procedure or action and even explaining what you are doing and why, it puts her in charge and may make her feel more comfortable in the often distressing and akward situation it already is. However, this is more time consuming, and can be cumbersome for the already extremely busy physician, but it is something worth undertaking.

Well I just wanted to write about a little bit I learned. I really enjoyed the talk and only regret that more people didnt come to experience it. Alhamdulillah…