End-of-Life Care for Sunni Islam Patients within a Catholic Healthcare Institution
Brandon Ruiz, PhD Student, Duquesne University
This paper explores end-of-life care within the Sunni Islam tradition and provides guidance for Catholic institutions on caring for this population. Catholic healthcare is the largest nonprofit system of healthcare providers in the United States (U.S.). These institutions care for more than one in seven patients daily nationwide. Catholic healthcare institutions are called to care for all people due to a religious obligation, which focuses on marginalized populations. Marginalized populations are inevitable within a pluralistic society. The healthcare system within the U.S. is no exception to this rule. In the U.S., Eastern Religions are considered as a minority group and as such are often marginalized. While there is a large and clear division between the Shi’ah and Sunni Islamic practices, the divisions within the Sunni traditions are small and ambiguous. Since the divisions are unclear, there could be further marginalization occurring within the various Sunni Islamic schools of thought. Due to this, I plan to focus and address the possibilities for end-of-life care within the umbrella of Sunni Islam such as, withdrawal of treatments, and artificial nutrition and hydration. Therefore, the recommendations are meant to be used as guidance. Similarly, this guidance is not to be considered as overruling the Ethical and Religious Directives (ERDs) for Catholic Health Care Services, the guide which all Catholic health services abide by. Rather, the proposed guidance is designed to complement the ERDs.
In this paper, I first explore and develop an understanding of the Sunni Islamic tradition and practices within the context of health to establish a normative bioethics framework, which can be used within the Sunni Islamic Tradition. However, this normative framework is not enough to provide concrete guidance. Thus, I also recommend a Jurisprudence approach. This approach is based on the teachings developed by the consensus of scholars on the holy scriptures and dictates how one should live or behave to adhere to the religion. At this point, we begin to see some interesting overlap with the ERDs. Not only does this indicate that there are many similarities between the two Abrahamic religions, but also that Catholic health services can indeed provide holistic care to Sunni Muslims. Furthermore, this approach is of dire importance when working with marginalized populations because often there are no representatives, such as religious leaders, that can be consulted. As a result, patients are often left distressed due to their desire to adhere to their religious practices and their uncertainty on how to do so. The guidelines presented in this essay can assist in alleviating such distress not only for the patients and their families, but for the clinicians as well. Thus, allowing us to get one step closer to true holistic care.
In this paper, I first explore and develop an understanding of the Sunni Islamic tradition and practices within the context of health to establish a normative bioethics framework, which can be used within the Sunni Islamic Tradition. However, this normative framework is not enough to provide concrete guidance. Thus, I also recommend a Jurisprudence approach. This approach is based on the teachings developed by the consensus of scholars on the holy scriptures and dictates how one should live or behave to adhere to the religion. At this point, we begin to see some interesting overlap with the ERDs. Not only does this indicate that there are many similarities between the two Abrahamic religions, but also that Catholic health services can indeed provide holistic care to Sunni Muslims. Furthermore, this approach is of dire importance when working with marginalized populations because often there are no representatives, such as religious leaders, that can be consulted. As a result, patients are often left distressed due to their desire to adhere to their religious practices and their uncertainty on how to do so. The guidelines presented in this essay can assist in alleviating such distress not only for the patients and their families, but for the clinicians as well. Thus, allowing us to get one step closer to true holistic care.