Who needs malpractice insurance, when you could have Sharia law? Check out this question to an Imam by a Canadian doctor regarding his culpability if a patient of his dies, and the Imam’s answer:
Here’s the question (typos not corrected):
Im a doctor and i want to ask about if i make a mistake that leads to the death of a patient .. is it considered as killing by mistake ? … or just a professional mistake
what i want to ask that if i caused the death of a patient – by mistake – do i need to pay fedia anf fast for tow consequent months ? .. or it is enough to take the punishment stated by law … insurance and such stuff ?
And here’s Mufti Ebrahim Desai’s answer:
A medical doctor and his services fall in the category of Ijaarah (hiring) in Shari’ah. A patient hires the services of a medical doctor. The general principle regarding a hired person is that he is an Ameen (a trusted person). It is expected of him to carry out his services with honesty and trustworthiness. If he makes a pure human mistake and the patient dies, then the doctor will not be sinful.
However, he will have to pay a diyat (blood money) of 100 camels or 1000 Dinars (gold coins) or 10,0000 Dirhams (silver coins) in an Islamic country upon the order of the Qadhi.
and Allah Ta’ala Knows Best
Mufti Ebrahim Desai
In a way, it doesn’t sound all that different from our present malpractice system here in the U.S., where a physician all too often ends up paying paying a judgment even when he did his best and was not at fault in the patient’s death.
(Hat tip: Jim Benton)
