The participants warned that irresponsible medical research involving human beings have led to tragedies in the last century

By Sami Ahmad, Lamya Hamad, IOL Staff

CAIRO, December 13 (IslamOnline.net) – Muslim physicians and scholars at the eighth conference of the Islamic Organization for Medical Sciences (IOMS) have urged medical institutions to take ethical principles into consideration when conducting biomedical researches on human beings.

“All research involving human subjects should be conducted with three basic ethical principles, namely respect for persons, beneficence [if benefits outweigh harms] and justice,” said Nazih Hammad, a member of the Islamic Fiqh Academy, an affiliation of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

“The performance of research on human subjects is Islamically acceptable. However, it should be useful and responsive to the purposes of Islamic law including the safeguarding of one’s religion, life, intellect, progeny and property, and that it should cause harm to none of God’s creatures,” added Dr. Hossam E. Fadel, director of maternal fetal medicine, University Hospital, Georgia, USA.

He stressed that in cases where less substantial instance of harm and an outweighing benefit are in conflict, the harm is forgiven for the sake of the benefit.

Fadel regretted that medical research involving human beings have created “a lot of potential pitfalls” that led to tragedies in the last century.

Opened Saturday, December 11, the four-day conference moots and is likely to endorse the first the first Islamic code for medical and health ethics.

The conference is organized by IOMS in cooperation with the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), the Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences (CIOMS), Ajman University Network and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

“Informed Consent”

One of the overriding issues at the conference sessions was what doctors call the “informed consent,” meaning that medical research should be conducted at the consent of individuals.

He/she, in other words, must have a prior and thorough knowledge of the nature of the research, so that they become “informed”.

“It is a prerequisite for the validity of informed consent which an investigator must obtain from the subject that it should be given with full knowledge and correct understanding, on the part of the subject, of what he is consenting to,” Hammad said.

He further elaborated on Islam’s position regarding people incapable of giving their consent like children or those suffering from mental or behavioral disorders.

“A guardian cannot authorize the involvement of such a person in the medical research except if the research involves an absolute or weightier benefit and if the risks involved do not exceed what is associated with a normal medical or psychological examination of such people.”

Abdullah S. Hattab, Professor of Social Medicine and Public Health, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of Aden, cites “black marks in the history of medical research” on vulnerable people.

“The most famous of which has been the crimes committed by some physicians who had conducted atrocious experiments on unconsenting (sic) prisoners and detainees in the concentration camps of the Nazi regime during the World War II.

“As a consequence of the trial of those physicians, the Nuremberg Code was promulgated in 1947. It has been designed to protect the integrity of the research subject, and set out conditions for the ethical conduct of research involving human subjects, emphasizing their voluntary consent to participate, its scientific validity and the real social benefit of these investigations.”

Prelude on Ethics

Al-Qaradawi suggested substituting swearing by Allah for the medical oath

Prominent Muslim scholar Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, the president of the International Association of Muslim Scholars (IAMS), said the proposed Islamic Code of Medical Ethics should have a prelude on the importance of morals and ethics in Islam.

He said morality should be preserved in all aspects of life, whether in medicine or any other field.

Al-Qaradawi maintained that under Islam “the end does not justify the means.”

He further suggested substituting swearing by Allah for the medical oath.

Under the Shari`ah, an oath can be broken and expiated but taking Allah’s pledge cannot be broken or expiated.

“So, I suggest to substitute swearing by Allah for the medical oath,” Al-Qaradawi said.