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The Role of Physicians in State-Sponsored Corporal Punishment

A View from Saudi Arabia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2016

RUAIM MUAYGIL
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Abstract:

The question of whether there is justification for physicians to participate in state-sanctioned corporal punishment has prompted long and heated debates around the world. Several recent and high-profile sentences requiring physician assistance have brought the conversation to Saudi Arabia. Whether a physician is asked to participate actively or to assess prisoners’ ability to withstand this form of punishment, can there be an ethical justification for medical training and skills being put toward these purposes? The aim of this article is to examine aspects of Islamic law along with the different professional and religious obligations of Saudi Arabian physicians, and how these elements may inform the debate.

Keywords

Islamic lawstate-sanctioned corporal punishmentphysician-assisted corporal punishmentSaudi Arabian physicians
Type
Special Section: Bioethics Beyond Borders
Information
Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics , Volume 25 , Issue 3 , July 2016 , pp. 479 - 492
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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Notes

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