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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Ibnosina Journal of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences 2010; 02(06): 258-263
DOI: 10.4103/1947-489X.211005
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From quality of life to value of life: An islamic ethical perspective

Waseem Fathalla
Division of Pediatric Neurology, Department of Pediatrics, Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, Abu Dhabi, U.A.E.
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Many factors contribute to the conceptualization of health related quality of life. These same factors seem to influence the medical decision-making in a manner that reflects competing principles and interests. The overall trend, however, may appear to be skewed toward weighing “worthiness” of patients for treatment according to their current or expected quality of life. Such position is in contrast to the whole concept of health related quality of life, which was meant to help improve health care access and delivery rather than limit it based on prognosis. This article aims to reiterate the absolute value of life from my understanding of Islamic perspective, and argues against belittling the value of life based on poor health-related quality of life.



Publication History

Received: 07 June 2010

Accepted: 16 September 2010

Article published online:
23 May 2022

© 2010. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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