In search of principles of health care in Islam -- Health and suffering -- Beginning of life -- Terminating early life -- Death and dying -- Organ donation and cosmetic enhancement -- Recent developments -- Epilogue.

Muslim Medical Ethics draws on the work of historians, health-care professionals, theologians, and social scientists to produce an interdisciplinary view of ...

In few other areas of bioethical inquiry exists as close a connection between bioethical professional advice and policy development as is the case with HIV and AIDS. Historically, the reasons for this have much to do with one of the groups initially affected most severely by HIV and AIDS, namely well-educated middle-class gay men in developed countries. This particular group of people, highly sophisticated and used to political activism in its pursuit of civil rights-related objectives, engaged the medical profession as (...) well as regulatory agencies such as the US Food and Drug Administration, and legislators (more so in the USA than in other countries) in a number of bioethically interesting policy areas. Many of the controversies of the times were framed as civil rights and/or ethical disputes. The initial areas of concern and inquiry focused on: informed consent to HIV testing and trial participation, the confidentiality of HIV test results, access to trials as a means of access to experimental drugs, the length of time it took to get an experimental drug to the market approval stage, and end-of-life decision-making. This line-up of issues explains why AIDS has become such an interesting topic for bioethicists. Bioethicists concerned about the traditional breadand- butter themes of medical ethics themes of the doctor - patient relationship (e.g., Daniels, 1991; Boyd, 1992), as well as bioethicists more concerned about policy and regulatory issues in the drug research and approval process (e.g., Edgar & Rothman, 1990; Salisbury & Schechter, 1990), found research topics worthy of vigorous pursuit. No surprise, then, that HIV/AIDS led to a probably unprecedented number of books and articles in professional journals (Manuel et al., 1990). HIV/AIDS has become a permanent fixture in all major mainstream bioethics textbooks (e.g., Kuhse & Singer, 1998; Arras & Steinbock, 1999). Reference series in medicine, ethics and law provide for dedicated volumes on AIDS.1 Even specialist bioethics textbooks, for instance those directed at dentistry students, carry chapters on HIV/AIDS (Ozar & Sokol, 2002). 128 Udo Schuklenk AIDS, designated by the medical profession a pandemic lives up to its classification. It did not stop at the borders of developed countries. As one would expect of a primarily sexually transmitted illness in the age of globalisation, it spread rapidly across the globe. Indeed, in many countries it has become one of the main causes of death, as in sub- Saharan Africa (Shisana & Simbayi, 2002). Dramatic increases in the number of AIDS cases are predicted for many Eastern European countries as well as for the two most populous nations on earth, India and China. Some of the HIV/AIDS-related bioethical and policy issues of concern to developed countries remain the same for developing countries. However, in ethically important ways they are dwarfed by concerns over drug prices, intellectual property rights, and affordable access to essential AIDS drugs for the impoverished masses of infected people in such countries. Of increasing importance have become ethical issues pertaining to the ever-growing research industry associated with clinical trials undertaken in developing countries. Indeed, major funding initiatives both in the USA and UK have brought clinical research in developing countries into focus. Some have questioned whether this attention is appropriate, considering other bioethical problems of arguably greater importance to developing countries (Chadwick & Schuklenk, 2003). Standards of clinical care in a study, and after a trial has concluded, as well as community benefits and access to the trial regime after the trial’s conclusion remain contentious issues. It is worth noting that more often than not it was an AIDS-related trial or policy decision that led to a great deal of bioethical analysis, yet the issues discussed almost always have ramifications far beyond AIDS. For instance, decisions about the question of what (if any) standards of care failures in preventive trials (of HIV vaccines or microbicides) ought to receive have important implications for non-AIDS prevention trials. (shrink)

. In the wake of the February 1997 announcement that Dolly the sheep had been cloned, Muslim religious scholars together with Muslim scientists held two conferences to discuss cloning from an Islamic perspective. They were organized by two influential Islamic international religioscientific institutions: the Islamic Organization of Medical Sciences and the International Islamic Fiqh Academy. Both institutions comprise a large number of prominent religious scholars and well‐known scientists who participated in the discussions at the conferences. This article gives a comprehensive (...) analysis of these conferences, the relation between science and religion as reflected in the discussions there, and the further influence of these discussions on Muslims living in the West. Modern discussions on Islamic bioethics show that formulating an Islamic perspective on these issues is not the exclusive prerogative of religious scholars. Formulating such perspectives has become a collective process in which scientists play an essential role. Such a collective approach strengthens the religious authority of Muslim scholars and makes it more influential rather than undermining it. (shrink)