Aligning Medical and Muslim Morality: An Islamic Bioethical Approach to Applying and Rationing Life Sustaining Ventilators in the COVID-19 Pandemic Era

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has spurred policymakers and religious leaders to revisit age-old questions about the ethics of pandemic control, the just allocation of scarce resources, and preparing for death. We add to these conversations by discussing the use of mechanical ventilation for COVID-19 patients. Specifically, we address the following: For Muslim patients/families when is it permissible to forgo mechanical ventilation? For Muslim clinicians, what circumstances justify the withholding or withdrawing of mechanical ventilation from patients? And for policymakers, is there an Islamically-justifiable rubric for allocating mechanical ventilation to patients in times of scarcity? Our Islamic bioethical analyses connect biostatistical data and social contexts with ethico-legal constructs to bridge the epistemic theories of biomedicine and the Islamic legal tradition. They reveal that forgoing mechanical ventilation is permissible for Muslims, that there are several conditions that allow for Muslim clinicians to justify withholding and withdrawing mechanical ventilation, and also several policy rubrics for ventilator allocation that would be justifiable.