Yasir Qadhi – Q&A on Medical Ethics A Conversation between and Dr Aasim Padella

			woman
		

			saw the how
		

			many mean animals need me
		

			was salam ala Rasulillah. While they're early, he will be here woman with a hammer bad. So Tuesdays
as you know, we have our regular q&a sessions. And today I wanted to do something different today in
light of what is happening, you know, with the Coronavirus, with all of these issues taking place, I
wanted to actually get involved directly with some of the medical issues that we're facing, and
raise public awareness about some of the issues that I believe all of us within the Muslim community
should be aware of. Now, if you remember a few months ago, I think it was I gave a longer lecture.
And you can find it on the q&a section of our websites, where I mentioned the various positions that
		

			our classical scholars had about the issue of Tada, we or availing oneself to medicine, and the
necessity or lack thereof, is it wajib? Is it obligatory for the Muslim to avail oneself to each and
every medical procedure? Or is it something that is recommended? Or is it better to do nothing and I
had a very long lecture at that stage. And I don't want to go over all of that again. But just to
rehash very quickly, what I explained in that lecture and the evidence was there in that lecture,
you'll find them online. What I explained is that pretty much unanimous position of all of our
classical and, you know, traditional scholars, is that the general concept of availing oneself to
		

			medicine taking medication, generally speaking, it is between mazahub and MOBA, it is something that
is permissible, and an occasion you have the option to basically opt out of it. And this is the
position that all of the four schools of law, basically held that the Hanafi is said that there is
no sin on somebody who chooses to abandon treatment, the shafr has been hijacked hate me or wrongly,
they said that, you know, usually the default is that it is Mr. hub to take medicine, but it is not
wajib. To do so. And the Maliki is pretty much have the same position. In fact, Imam I heard him the
humble, he was the only scholar who basically generally felt that you know what, when a person is
		

			sick, and then if they want to take medicine, they can, but if they don't do anything, and they
simply, you know, leave it up to Allah subhanho wa taala, that might actually be even more
rewarding. This is the generic position of all of the four schools. However, there are certain
scenarios very, very rarely, where some of our scholars said it is obligatory, to avail oneself to
medicinal practices and shareholders and even Taymiyah. He summarizes this very concisely as is his
his typical methodology in volume 18, page 12 of his more fatawa he says that the correct position
regarding medic medicine and medicinal procedures is that sometimes it is haram, and sometimes it is
		

			mcru. Sometimes it is MOBA. And sometimes it is Mr. hob, and very occasionally it will be
obligatory, it is going to be wajib to avail oneself to a doctor or to demist medicinal procedures.
And that is when it is pretty much certain that if he were not to undertake this medicinal
procedure, if he were not to do what the doctors told him to do, then he would die as a result, and
therefore this would be a type of suicide. And the most common example that our scholars give is
that of a person with blood gushing out because of a wound, obviously, he didn't cause that wound,
obviously, you know, suppose you know, there was an incident at the house or somebody attacked or he
		

			fell or whatever happened, and an animal attacked and there was blood gushing out and there's
somebody that can tie the wound up, or maybe he himself is able to basically tie the wound up on his
own. And he says, No, I'm not going to take advantage of medicine. And I'm not going to let somebody
tie the wound up in this type of very narrow scenario, the majority of our scholars and especially
the modern field councils, they have said that in this scenario, when there is very minimal effort,
that is that is involved, and the outcome is fairly certain that if he were not to do this
procedure, he would die and to do this procedure is life saving in such a scenario, it is
		

			essentially obligatory to avail oneself to the medicinal procedures that the people of one's time or
or culture are familiar with. Again, the point is that it should be fairly certain that life will be
saved. And that also that it is a fairly simple procedures not involving an immense amount of effort
or invasive procedure or something that's going to cost a few million dollars or something that is
not reasonable for the average person to do. If it is reasonable, and it is something that is not
that difficult and it is something that is certain to say
		

			of one's life, then in sha Allah in this case, the position that most of our field councils have is
that it is obligatory, to undertake and to then avail oneself to whatever knowledge that we have of
science and medicine. Now that is hypothetical, we're now getting to the issue of Coronavirus and of
COVID-19. And this is presenting a number of unique situations and scenarios. And already in our own
community here in Dallas and across America and across the world. Our Muslim community has already
begun begun to feel the pinch of this this reality number of, you know, our own extended you know,
friends and family members, they are suffering from the virus and some of them have passed away we
		

			ask Allah subhana wa Tada to count their death as shahada, we ask Allah subhana wa Tada to bless the
families with saba. And we also want to in particular to through today's topic and lecture, raise
public awareness to those of us that are perhaps not fully understanding the ramifications, the
repercussions of what might potentially happen. And today's lecture frankly, it was not easy for me
to to prepare emotionally. Because it's somewhat of a morbid topic. It's somewhat of a topic that we
don't like to talk about. But times and situations are different than normal. And it is imperative
that awkward conversations take place now, before they get even more awkward. And because of this, I
		

			decided to bring in a person who might consider a friend of mine we have a very special guest that's
going to be joining us. And this guest Alhamdulillah his introduction whose resume is several times
longer than my own. And it is something that I have to condense been a very honored to have him on
our show today. Dr. Austin Padilla. He is an associate professor of medicine. He is the director of
the initiative of Islam and medicine and program on medicine and religion. He's in the McLean Center
for Clinical ethical medical ethics. He is the associate faculty in the Divinity School and
University of Chicago. Dr. Austin is a clinician and a researcher with a scholarly foci that is at
		

			the intersection of health care, bioethics and religion. He is a doctor and a scholar, an academic
his scholarship aims at improving health and health care through better accommodating religious
values and health care delivery. Using Muslim Americans and Islam as a model. He studies how
religion impacts patient health behaviors and healthcare experiences. How religion informs the
professional identities and workplace experiences of doctors and how religion furnishes bioethical
guidance to patients, providers policymakers and religious leaders. Dr. Padilla holds an MD from the
Weill Cornell Medical College. He has a Bachelor's degree in Biomedical Engineering and classical
		

			Arabic from the University of Rochester, and he has also studied Islamic theology and law in Islamic
seminaries and in academic settings. Dr. Padilla has authored over 100 peer reviewed articles
Marshall that's about a cola and book chapters, and he serves as an as an editor for a number of
famous journals, including the Encyclopedia of Islamic bioethics, the American Journal of bioethics
and other journals. Dr. Padilla's work has been featured in The New York Times the USA Today, the
Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, the NPR, BBC, CNN, and it goes on and on. Most importantly, in
my opinion, Dr. Padilla Alhamdulillah is a good friend of mine hamdullah. And I've had the pleasure
		

			of working with him as a part of our fifth Council of North America where we regularly invite him to
come to our seminars and our conferences, when we have issues of a medical nature. Dr. Padilla said
I'm Why don't you come
		

			over get what's up with this mask? What's going on? I think COVID is in the air everywhere. So I
want to protect myself, I encourage our viewership to also protect themselves. So I'm one person who
follows the law of the land. And our president has told us to wear masks, although they're not
watching upon him. So.
		

			So you've just come from the the hospital today. And I know that you're at the forefront of dealing
with patients that are suffering from COVID 19. Just so that, again, we're aware, what are some of
the most common patient complaints that you're seeing? And you know, what are some of the the the
worrisome issues that we should be aware of? Do you have any generic information and also personal
stories from your from your daily routine and practice? Sure. So chef, yes, it's a pleasure to be
here. Millis will bless you and the audience and keep you safe. I work in the emergency department.
So it's a place where I don't want to see friends or any of you there. And the ER our most of our
		

			patients come and they're worried about having COVID So let me give you three story scenarios. You
have people who are what I call worried well, they heard someone had COVID in the building, they're
concerned and so they
		

			I'm going to try to get checked for COVID, although they might not have any symptoms, right, and we
know that some people might not have any symptoms, but have COVID. But that's one population, the
second population or people will have symptoms of what might be COVID-19. They have fevers, chills,
a flu like symptoms. And there, they come in together to get specific testing for COVID. There's a
third sort of population that has some other issue, but are doing very poorly. And this is one that
concerns me the most people who might have symptoms of pneumonia, having difficulty breathing, who
are having kidney failure. And this is all because of the body's reaction to this disease. That's
		

			the most important one we have to care for. And the one that troubles us most in the ER, that
they're really having difficulty breathing, and their body is shutting down because of this
overwhelming response from having COVID in their system.
		

			SubhanAllah. So from a medical standpoint, we've been hearing a lot about this need for social
distancing for lock downs. How is that going to play out like we are all of us will have having the
same question. And we're hearing different politicians and different medical experts give us
different analyses and future scenarios. And again, only Allah knows the future. But you are an
actual expert, you're on the for field, you're at the forefront of this, you are engaged daily, this
is your area of expertise, help us understand what is exactly going on. And what is the end game for
COVID-19?
		

			Yeah, I'll as you said last month, I knows I think from the health data. So I do health research, as
you mentioned, we can only think of two ways out of this scenario, right. So we've talked about the
likely scenario, and the hope for expect or expected scenario. So likely scenario is that people
will get infected with the disease, and they'll have so many infections in society, most people
doing okay, that you'll develop immunity, that it won't be transferred from people, right. So this
idea is that at some point, there'll be enough people have gotten the disease have recovered, that
they will not have a chance of getting it again, and spread will go down. That's why you heard about
		

			flattening the curve, right, we want to have sort of modulated infections so that it's not
overtaking the healthcare system. So that's our expected sort of scenario, which would mean for
months, we'll have intermittent COVID flares. Or alternatively, the most, you know, exciting
scenario would be that we get a vaccine. And if you get a vaccine, you can deliver it to everybody,
then just like the flu, this will be a seasonal thing for some people. But you'll have a vaccine
that will make disease less severe upon most people. Therefore, you will not have these flares, or
people are dying, right. So those are the sort of tweaks scenarios, more expected. One is that we'll
		

			have COVID for months, it will peter out. But they'll also be present. And the most exciting one
would be if you get a vaccine, neither of those are going to happen within the next sort of month,
right or next two months. These are sort of six to eight months projections. So that's the end game
from the healthcare system standpoint. So realistically, and again, we're not going to hold you to
Word and we're just Allah knows the future. Realistically, you do not see this lifting into three
months.
		

			I don't see us not dealing with COVID in the ER or in the ICU as a routine matter in the next two,
three months. Now, we will still have even with social distancing, there'll be pockets of flares.
People will have disease, for example, nursing homes, and we'll have to gear up and take care of
patients with COVID-19. So no, I don't see it going away. I think your viewership and all of us are
worried about the the idea can we return to normal life like not Go and wear masks, you know, be
able to have congregations together. And that Allah Allah knows, right? If you have a significant
fears of disease, that might not ever be the case in the next two, three months. However, if Allah
		

			wills, you know, with Ramadan coming, perhaps or dwells will be accepted, and then we can sort of
say, No, we can return to normalcy after that. But Allah only knows what will happen that you don't
sort of foresee it, it's not an expected outcome right away. Okay. And again, realistically, given
our parameters, given our human knowledge, suppose theoretically, a vaccine were to be discovered
within a week, again, realistically, so that our viewers understand what does that mean for us? In
our houses? How long would it take for the discovery of a vaccine at Stanford or at MIT, until it
actually gets to, you know, our local, you know, Walmart, you know, Walgreens or something. Correct.
		

			So that's, that's, that's what six to eight months, right? So population based vaccinations are not
easy to deploy, even if they're effective. Just like we had difficulty getting PPE, right, or
difficulty getting medications to get every Walgreens Walmart, every hospital to have enough vaccine
for 300 plus million people, right? Or at least 250 million people is not an easy enterprise. The
United States is not set up for that, by the way, maybe smaller countries, but us, you know, to get
in every corner, every rural community, we don't have that ability, it will take months. So again,
the quick fix that many of us hope for you or otherwise might be accepted, but it's not the most
		

			probable likelihood from a medical standpoint. Yeah, so this is what I've been saying.
		

			going for quite a while, that's not something that I like to say. But it does appear like we're in
this for the long haul. And knowing what to expect is really half the battle, just preparing
yourself psychologically, and emotionally and then figuring out what to do financially. And
logistically, this is all a part of our religion, you know, our Prophet system has told us the Quran
tells us to do a thorough come, you know, take your precautions, you know, don't just be foolish.
And this is something that we learned from our Shediac as well. So again, this is something that we
wanted to hear from you that, realistically speaking, there does not seem to be barring some
		

			miracle. And obviously, we do believe in miracles and we ask Allah for a miracle. But barring that
type of divine intervention, it might realistically take six to eight months at a bare minimum. And
even in that point of time, there might actually be even after that point in time flares that might
come back and forth. And we might just have to do this every once in a while. Right, right. So we're
talking about just realistically even say, in three months, we come some normalcy, but things will
never be the same. For example, the idea of us having mass events and concerts and Majumdar who Mark
conventions with 1000s of people that might need to be controlled, right? Because one person, two
		

			people being infected, and that whole gathering could then cause a flare, or people traveling in the
way that they travel all the time, those normal things that we are used to unless we get a cure. And
that's the part of the problem, right? There might be a vaccine, but there is no known cure for
COVID-19, right? Unless we get a cure that we can deploy, we're going to have to practice our lives
in a different way post this COVID-19 era Subhanallah it's literally like a game changer. everything
might change in all that we're doing Subhanallah it's very eye opening. So again, you know, Dr.
Awesome, again, you are an expert, you are dealing with COVID on a daily basis. Alhamdulillah you
		

			are a practicing Muslim, I can testify to this as well. You've gone through madrasa system a little
bit as well. And again, I'm not saying this for any reason, except because the next question I'm
going to ask you is a very sensitive one to some viewers. You are actually memorizing the Quran and
how to remember is more than half the Quran. So your deen your dunya Alhamdulillah inshallah very
role model for many of us here. Can you please elaborate from your technical expertise background as
a practicing Muslim? What do you say to those Muslims that believe that COVID-19 is some type of
conspiracy theory that some governments you know, some unnamed governments, we're not going to
		

			mention any names, but are sinisterly just you know, putting this into the population? Or what is
all this 5g technology linked to this? Can you please give us your expert medical opinion as a
practicing inshallah God fearing Muslim? Not somebody was working for any you know, so please
Bismillah What do you say to that? Yeah, a shift. I mean, I think the question is for how you
answer, it will be similar way out, answer it. I mean, I think, you know, we are people who have to
go by the, quote unquote, natural law of how things happen right here. And so there is seems to be a
logical link between animal transfer of diseases and like this Coronavirus is to humans, we've had
		

			the same thing happened with the flu, the swine flu. And so there is a model upon which this logical
connection makes sense from animals to people. Right. And we've been talking about this for decades.
Now. There is no reason to believe at this point, that that's not the case. Right? That there's some
conspiracy theory for us to, you know, eliminate the disabled or something like this or for a
warfare from China to the ICC, or whatever else it might be. I think that that we have to follow the
Senate along this sense, right, what's happening and not believe in exotic theories. And from my
perspective, when we do that, I want to hear what you think when we do that and allow for conspiracy
		

			theories about whatever else to affect the way we act. We have the psychology of not taking
ownership of what we can do, right, we sort of disempower ourselves. So as a scientist, as a
clinician, I have not read anything that suggests that there's some nefarious thing happening here.
But I do know that this age people sort of spread a lot of untruths at times about 5g.
		

			Yes, through 5g.
		

			So the nefariousness is in the rumor spreading via 5g
		

			5g. So again, I need to say this because I cannot believe how prevalent this theory is in so many
Muslims, sub communities like is there any actual pseudo evidence even like semi you know, backed up
evidence that 5g is somehow linked to COVID-19? Not that I've seen so I don't I don't try to scour
the internet for everything but I have not seen and I'll tell you from a practical standpoint as a
physician, how, for your viewership, and as you as you know, a chef
		

			Doesn't matter is here now we have to take care of ourselves, right? So why are we worrying about
where it came from Allah subhanaw taala has gathered opposition, right? He's made it happen for
whatever reason, we have to take action, it's time for us to take ownership of what we can do to
combat this disease and make our loved ones secure from it. Excellent. So two very important points.
Firstly, there's not a shred of scientific credible evidence that COVID is either some type of
government conspiracy or coming from 5g. All of this is just rumor mongering. And secondly, even if
you wanted to believe that it's not going to change your day to day practical routine of how you're
		

			going to combat COVID-19, you're still going to have to do the social distancing, and be careful and
whatnot. It doesn't change any of that. And the again, you asked me my position on this, and I had
mentioned a few days ago that, you know, there's a psychology of conspiracy theories that people who
believe in conspiracy theories, they actually are typically disenfranchised, and they empower
themselves via conspiracy theories. So they feel a sense of, like lost, they don't have ownership of
the narrative. But when they believe in a conspiracy theory, it gives them a false sense of power
that I am shaping this narrative, I know what's going on. And that false sense of power is
		

			potentially lethal or fatal is potentially dangerous, because they have convinced themselves of an
illusion. And in that illusion, they it's like the people who think the world is going to come to an
end in a particular day, and they wait and wait and wait. And then that day comes in goes, nothing
happens. They've just wasted all of that time. Well, in this case, the conspiracy theory is
potentially very problematic, because they might not take necessary precautions, and they are their
loved ones might actually get harmed in this. So again, we are trying our best to keep on saying
that there is no shred of evidence, please stop forwarding these WhatsApp messages or you know,
		

			people who are saying this or whatnot are there. There are people who already have very dubious
backgrounds as it is look up into their psychology and into their backgrounds. They're the ones
spreading these 5g and whatnot, conspiracy theories. It's not something that is credible, every
rational person is seeing the world is hurting. No one entity is benefiting all countries are
hurting in their own manner. So anyway, this is something we're telling our people so that in sha
Allah, Allah, they understand this as a test from Allah azza wa jal, and you know, if there's
anything that needs to be blamed from a spiritual level, it is our collective sins. And I've given
		

			Hobbesian lectures about this, stop blaming some third entity Subhanallah I have to say this, the
Quran and Sunnah is very clear on this point, that these collective calamities come because of
collective lawfulness, collective arrogance, collective fascia, that is the real problem, not 5g,
and not some other, you know, for for term territory. But anyway, so that's the issue.
		

			Yeah, I mean, I mean, okay, now, before we get to some of the 50 issues that we're going to be
discussing back and forth. And by the way, one of the reasons I wanted you know, Doctor asked him to
come is to again, demonstrate that these types of issues, which involve aspects of the modern world
and aspects of Islamic ethics, they cannot and should not be decided by only one area of speciality.
So Dr. Awesome is a doctor, he is a medical doctor, he's a professor, he's a researcher in medicine.
And his expertise is medicine. And the fifth Council their expertise, our fifth, they don't know
medicine, as well, as Dr. Awesome does. And Dr. Awesome, hasn't studied, fit as much as the field
		

			councils have done, the two need to come together, which is what the fifth Council in North America
does with Dr. Osem, in particular, and other doctors as well, these types of issues. You cannot just
go to the Mufti and share and ignore what the doctor says. And also, neither should you go to a
doctor who doesn't know Islamic ethics when it involves areas. Obviously, there are areas that don't
involve Islamic ethics. I mean, just a simple procedure. But there are areas of life and death of
withdrawing support, which is we're going to get to now these areas, right? Are you allowed to
withdraw medical, you know, life support, life saving support? Are you allowed to, you know, refuse
		

			the intubation let's say these are questions that intersect law, ethics, and morality and medicine,
and to answer these types of questions. Generally speaking, it is very difficult to find one person
who has mastered all of these fields, you might there are rare people hamdulillah Allah has blessed
them to be experts in all of these fields. And by the way, even those experts, they typically defer
to other councils that have more people. So that's one of the reasons I wanted to have a
conversation with an expert you know, in medicine, and I'm not an expert in field but I'm a student
of knowledge of fit, so the two of us can converse. And before we get to our conversation, a legal
		

			disclaimer this is just a general discourse for public awareness. This is not meant for specific
advice for any particular part.
		

			Listen in a specific situation and scenario, please, if any of you or your loved ones and is in a
specific situation, do not derive a verdict based upon our conversation on the air, this is just for
general information sake, so that you are have more awareness. If and may Allah protect all of us if
and when the time comes when you need to actually make a decision. Feel free to listen to this
lecture. But the actual decision cannot be made based upon this generic lecture, the actual decision
will be made with the doctor who's in charge of that particular person and with your share, corral
them or that you are in touch with that can then assess that situation. And scenario. Doctor, I
		

			assume you agree with that disclaimer, or the disclaimer, I'll just say one thing about this idea of
intersectional expertise, I think we also need to have a notion that we have to be critical of both
fields, right? These are bodies of knowledge. So you need people who can take a critical standpoint
not automatically accept every bit of knowledge from the medical scientific world, there's many
different sciences in the fall. Similarly, you know, our traditional martial is fast. Some people
have theological expertise, some people have legal expertise. So we need to be critical on both
sides. So we get closer to the real thing, right? We're all making use data in different ways. Are
		

			you making use to hide your fit counsel is what we're trying to get to an answer that's acceptable
with this tradition, not the answer, right? I think sometimes we get caught up in this notion that
there is only one truth and everybody else is false. And I would what dissuade us, we're all doing
our best effort, bringing things together.
		

			Very excellent point. And that is that even within film, there's a spectrum of opinion, generally
speaking, and even within medicine, there's a spectrum of opinion. And so it should not be ever
understood that if one Felty says something, or one doctor says something that is the end all and be
all. Excellent point, Jay, before we get to the actual conversation, some medical terminologies
		

			that we should be aware of. So can you explain to our viewers, especially when it comes to COVID,
19, what are the main medicinal interventions that they should be aware of such as intubation, and
such as being put on a ventilator and anything else that comes to mind, just explain for us lay
people so at least as I mentioned, the most worrisome patient to me is a patient who comes into the
emergency department is having difficulty breathing. So I had a case of this is a 48 year old woman
who came in the other night who had asthma and she was having difficulty breathing, we could not
distinguish was asthma, or was it COVID-19? She had a fever, she had some flu like symptoms without
		

			even covering it. So when you have someone's having difficulty breathing, for example, right, and or
has you they're thinking about how do I solve that problem? Now in the era of COVID-19, I think your
your viewership, you know, many people have asthma around the world, they use inhalers, they get
sort of, you know,
		

			ventilate, not ventilated. I'm sorry to get nebulizer treatments, and the air of COVID-19 We can't
give nebulizer treatments, because it gets everywhere in the air. So if you have COVID-19 in your
respiratory tract, and you put that on you, it's gonna get all over the ER. So we're limited in what
we can do, meaning I can give you some medicine through an IV, I can give you oxygen through the
nasal cannula. But I can't give you that particular medicine that makes your lung expand through
through the the mask. So what am I left with, and this is the most concerning thing I'm left with
trying to intubate someone, which means putting a tube down their throat, if they're having
		

			difficulty breathing, and taking over their lungs, respirator or ventilators, same thing, I'm going
to be breathing for them, I'll be giving them medication to make them not conscious, right, because
having a tube down your throat is not not something people like, but I'll sedate you, I'll intubate
you, and then I'll have take over your lung control so that I can have a machine and breathe for
you. And that is the most concerning thing, I think for this whole COVID-19. Because we know that
COVID-19 specifically breaks down or has a difficulty with the lungs tissue, right, and it causes
the lungs not to be able to oxygenate the body. So that's the most troublesome aspect of COVID-19.
		

			And the most worrisome treatment is this one that I have to intubate you mean, put a tube down your
throat and put you on a ventilator meaning take over your lung function for you to get you through
the event. Again, as I said, there is no cure. So I'm hoping over time, that your body itself
generates an immune response to the disease and you get better while you're on the ventilator. That
is the hope. Right? And that's, I think that these two are intellectual conversations, because that
procedure is one that is not Yeah, as you mentioned the beginning right? It might be for some people
who are very skilled, easy to do, but it always carries a chance that we might not be able to
		

			intubate, you might have some, you know, body physiology that we difficult or some larger neck or
something. Or and here's the more important thing for our viewership and just data point. We know
from data from China data from Italy, data from Spain, data from the United States, that half the
individuals more than half who have to have that ventilator on when they
		

			fora COVID-19 will not get off the ventilator, meaning they will die on the ventilator.
		

			Right? So if you have COVID-19 disease that requires you to have a ventilator, meaning I have to
take over your lung function, there is a high likelihood, right? As far as we know that you will
never be able to return to normal lung functioning. And that makes it very difficult for us to have
conversation. Those are the choices we face every day. There. Let me ask you, so 40%, roughly can
get off the intubation. If they do get off as of yet have they got back to normal? Or is it still
depends on the person's own risk factors, right. So that people, as you look at the CDC guidelines,
or others, they say, people who have lung function disorders in the beginning like asthma, or have
		

			interstitial lung disease or have COPD, it's very hard for them to return to normalcy, right? You
might have to put in a, you know, a hole in their neck and have a ventilator every now and then.
Right. So so we don't have good outcome data. But those individuals are highest risk and the
elderly, my, but it's not 40%. So some data points. For example, in New York here, 73% 73% of people
die, before they get a chance to get cured from the disease or meaning their body cures themselves
of the disease on a ventilator. These are hiring statistics. We haven't Wait, I want to make sure we
understood this. You're saying in New York City, more than seven out of 10 people that got to that
		

			stage of intubation, we're not able to sit upon Allah Subhan Allah. Wow. Subhanallah that's
harrowing alone was done. May Allah protect us. So now this leads us to now the main reason why
you're on here today to have this conversation. So is it therefore in your so let's talk about from
a medicine medical perspective, then let's get the Islamic stuff here. This issue of suppose
somebody comes to you in this state that they're having difficulty breathing? Right. As a doctor,
what factors what factors are you looking at to assess? Are they hopefully going to be in the
30 40%? That will make it through or not? Based upon that? Why am I asking you the question less
		

			than get to after your your explained to me the medical stuff, let's get to the fifth aspect of what
they should know about intubation being Mr. have referred to you in some of those areas so that we
can have a conversation, let me say, medically, as you asked me about, you know, what?
		

			What are the the, the the concerns that we'll have? Right? So I've mentioned you the statistics here
about intubation. I mentioned to you the outcomes, right. And what we do in the hospital is we have
100, Allah, Allah has given us the ability to analyze a lot of data, we have data from other
diseases like COVID-19, SARS, for example, MERS, right. And we have other diseases that cause this
breakdown of blood barrier in the brain, the neurons they break down. And so from that end, we can
prognosticate what predicts people not doing well, not getting off the ventilator, and what predicts
people dying on the ventilator? Right. And so we have some calculators credible evidence that tells
		

			us certain people want to Well, I mentioned to you those who have lung disease people, elderly
people have concomitant problems, right. So someone's got pneumonia, lung failure, you have kidney
failure, as well, we know a lot of our population has diabetes, and they have kidney disease, right?
Or have to get, you know, dialysis, all of those particular bad, it's right, meaning that they will
not get off the ventilator or they will die on the ventilator. And this is what we use medical sort
of clinical benefit. So the idea is who will benefit from this intervention? Those people who don't
have those risk factors, and we can calculate with a reasonable surety? What is the 30 day
		

			mortality? How many what percentage of this person how likely is they'll die in three days? Or how
likely is it that this treatment will extend their life although we believe ALLAH smart Allah knows
when we are to die, we can calculate with some certainty or shortness, how life beneficial this will
be. Life Saving this, sir. Okay, so let me now I mean, obviously, we're gonna go back and forth
here. And you're also aware of this, these issues because you have presented the contrary written
papers about Islamic bioethics, as you are aware as well. Generally speaking, our scholars have not
considered such such medicine or interventions as being obligatory unless it is some unless it is
		

			something that he has a new boiler oven there is a preponderance of evidence that a relatively
trivial and cost effective procedure will save one's life. If there are mitigating factors of them
is excessive, you know,
		

			invasion of one's body of them is an exorbitant cost because locally for long enough son in law was,
and of them is a minimal chance of recovery. In any of these situations and scenarios, the vast
majority of our scholars, the four mega hubs have actually vacillated between it being MOBA and
maybe even Mikuru. Like why would you want to increase somebody's, you know, difficulty at that
stage. And I think this is one of the and again, you've written papers of this. But I think as
Muslims, we have a different attitude, then people outside of faith to life and death, it up numbers
of this culture that are outside our faith, their main goal is just to extend life, no matter what
		

			the cost. And for us, we have as Allah says, well, aka the Kurama, Bunny, Adam, we have honored the
Children of Adam, there's something called the Kurama of the children of Adam, and there's something
called a dignified death. So we don't want our loved ones to live in a vegetable state necessarily,
that's not something that the Shetty is looking to do, to increase them, you know, on a ventilator
where they have no cognitive faculties where they're not able to pray and you know, worship Allah
subhana wa, tada, they're unconscious, and knocked out. And they're there just for the sake of being
there. And that is why and again, you know, this, you know, as well, that all of the fuqaha councils
		

			all of the fifth councils across the globe, have opined that, in such cases were a vegetative state
has been achieved and there is very little chance to obviously the one in a million miracles always
happens. But the Shediac is not based on the one in million million miracle the Shetty is based on
what is called the preponderance or the hub. And that is why the mathematical Islami over the OYC in
his verdict did in 1986, and the image filter under Robert of 1987, and the HK bar of Saudi Arabia
and the equator Council, the trading Council and to have all of the listed councils here, pretty
much all of them, they have opined that when a person is on this vegetative state, it is not
		

			necessary to a even give this person the the the medicine or intervention or B to even sustain it
and one can actually withdraw, one can actually get Take, take care of this person in a manner that
they can withdraw the breathing apparatus, the ventilator, and they can allow this person to
basically pass on it let nature take its course. And this would not be considered causing the death
because causing the death has even told me and others they mentioned this is by depriving the person
of the air that they can breed themselves to suffocate somebody this is causing them to die or to
not give them food and water to withdraw a ventilator system that they're using when they're in a
		

			vegetative state, the Fila councils across the globe, including here in America, an agenda filled
Council, they have all ruled that if the doctors opine that there is very little chance of survival
or even that the survival be in a vegetative state that it is permissible to withdraw. Now, I know
you've written papers about this as well. So you want to comment on this and give us some of your
expertise as well. So I think Schiff correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that in this context of
COVID-19, I would differentiate two different types of patients and two different scenarios here.
Now, caveat, I think this vegetative aspect that we're talking about 11 papers on that, you know,
		

			and I have some things about brain death. We've talked about this tonight together, I don't think it
applies here. So let's take that scenario I shared with you about a patient, right, so I have a
patient who's having breathing difficulties. And my choice is to intubate her put on a ventilator,
right. And I said to you that the statistics there show that there's less likelihood of recurrent
getting off the ventilator than on if she has certain features. So the question here, as you said,
is okay, well, now I'm obliged. Is it logical for me to continue this treatment? So the question
then becomes about, well, you know, is there a benefit? Right, so you mentioned that the metamorphic
		

			talked about life saving nature here, right, so is this and is it life saving? Certainly are a lot
of us have done wise, right. It's yeah, Peony or Allah but have been, I gave you a statistics is not
certain. Right? Therefore, we're not talking about withdrawing, we're just talking about not going
on the ventilator in the first place. Right? If you have certain characteristics, and the doctors,
as you said, are saying that I have little chance for you to benefit from this treatment, meaning
extend your life, it's less than 50%. Right? Then we have a choice. That is not mandatory. It's not
life saving, in my view. And I think that's what you're saying. That's not the vegetative point is
		

			the point where you don't even have to start the idea of giving you medication, or having the
complications where they're not conscious. You don't even have to put the tube down your throw.
Right, if you know you're in that less than 50% benefit. So the idea is clinical benefit, right. I
think sometimes people forget what that means. They talk about futility and all these other terms,
but just say the problem
		

			notice is that you will not get out the ventilator. It's not life saving, therefore there is no
obligation to continue. The other scenario. And I want to know, once against what you said, is about
withholding, I mean, withdrawing. So you put the ventilator on. Now, do we have to keep it on?
Right? As you mentioned, the cost of a pot of mine caught on Yeah, right. So I believe as a
physician, right, and with a little bit of literacy in Islamic tradition, that every time I'm
patient, the ICU, you know, they're not able to interact with me as they normally would, sometimes,
because you have to give them medication to be on the ventilator, they're not conscious for the
		

			prayers, right? They don't have the are not the tube in there, to give to allow them to urinate
nurse comes in, has to clean their back, right? This isn't undignified in my view, existence, if
that all that existence is right. And I think that we have to recognize that those are threatening
from the column of the body, if that is all these distances. So I wouldn't use the term vegetative
that means something specifically, mentally, I'm just saying at that state, that the huruma and the
chroma individual might be at risk here. And if there is no known benefit, that again, we can list
in my view, I think in the perfect Islami and other councils and most of these have said you can
		

			withdraw. Right? So there's a distinction with withholding and withdrawing. If you know, there's no
benefit, but the idea of benefits there. The last thing I'll say this idea about
		

			recovery, right, and harms and benefits. So in my understanding, and I want you to comment on this,
is that oftentimes we don't think about the end goal, you were mentioning this right? What is the
end goal of a person state? What do we want to achieve? By giving them medical treatment? Right? Not
just how likely is but what is it? And you just said that slum doesn't call upon me to live in an
undignified manner? Can you kind of give me a sense what that really means to you as a faculty?
Right? What what, because there's some people who at baseline, right have mental disabilities,
right? There are some people who get really concerned about utilitarian reasoning in secular ethics
		

			when they talk about these people don't have qualities of life, right? So I want you to kind of
watch that for us. Because there might be people we take care of, don't well, some might say are not
dignified individuals because of their capacities. And I don't believe that tradition says that
either. So can you help us think about that? So that's okay. So you mentioning three things. There's
		

			obviously I welcome. This is your expertise. So you said that I shouldn't use the term vegetative.
How about comatose? Is that more accurate? Well, so comatose again, I have so let me let me the
comatose is a gradation of the mental capacity of individuals, right? When I need to do a surgery,
you're comatose, right? You're not feeling things. Correct. You could say that's vegetative, but
it's not vegetative. But that's a temporary state. When I have to intubate someone, I have to give
them medication. So they don't feel the pain of being intubated. They're in a in a quasi comatose
state. But these are all mental. These are sort of popular understandings of medical terms. And when
		

			we want to use medical terms, vegetative state means an individual who does not have alertness or
awareness becomes permanent or persistent after six months, right? A comatose individual has
different gradations of alertness. And we have many different categories of coma. So I don't want to
confuse a lay understanding of a coma is what it looks like to us with the medical. And if I tell
you, the best outcome is that this individual will not be able to eat, drink, open their eyes, those
are things you can understand. And we can not miss a coma, right? There's a different diagnosis for
that. So I don't want us to use terms that confuse people, oftentimes, let me end here, I oftentimes
		

			I find when I get consulted by some family, that they don't understand what the doctor is saying.
And then they say, Oh, they're saying vegetative, or they're saying coma, or they're saying this.
But actually, that's not what they're saying. But that's how they can conceive of it, right. That's
how they picture. And we have different medical therapies, people in different ways. So I wouldn't
want to use those terms that are quasi, I never shared this. Again, this is the whole point of us
coming together and having this conversation, this is not my expertise. And you're educating us
about the gradations of comatose and the vegetative state has a technical meaning. So from our
		

			perspective, you said you there are three things that are very, very important. The first of them,
the patient comes, and they have yet to be intubated, and they can weigh the pros and the cons. Now,
what do you advise as a Muslim physician that Muslims have their in their wills in their will see us
What do you advise Muslim patients of yours who are worried they might, you know, Allah protect all
of us, but a percentage are gonna get this COVID virus? What is the conversations that they should
be taking place? And what are the factors that they need to take into account? So so we're going to
all three scenarios, one bomb and the first of them before they're intubated? They're all normal and
		

			healthy. They're putting these conversations now? Yeah, so I think that that families and now have
to have a conversation
		

			about what they desire to be their end goal, right? So I want to be able to interact with my family
that might be a quality of mine, right? Or I want to be able to do the Salah, or to be conscious
enough to vicco. And if that's a goal, you can ask the physicians. If we intubate How likely is it,
they will reach that goal, right. And when you haven't found the conversation, you've told people,
that's the goal I want to move towards. And if there's not a dominant likelihood, I'll get there,
then I don't want that treatment, whether it's an intimate ventilator, whether it's antibiotics,
whether it is whatever it is surgery, but I think families need to say, here's the state I'd like to
		

			live in. And for me, and I advise a stuck leaf, right that even one is too far right? Might have the
ability to move us from Jahannam to Jana. So if I can have that one is too far, I want to live life,
but if I cannot have to sedated on it, I will be in a state where I will have no awareness. Now I
can use a clinical term persistent vegetative state, I would not consider that to be a life that I
would like to be living. And so the quality, if I have that for now. So that's the conversation
about withholding. Excellent To be precise, though, that is your personal preference of what you
would want to dignified life to be. And again, to be Islamic, others might have a different level of
		

			preference. Right? Right. Right. You're right, excellent. From an Islamic perspective, before the
intubation is done, if there is no certainty that they will be saved, then it is not obligatory on
them to undergo that procedure, according to the vast majority of scholars, and should they opt out.
And they feel that it is undignified from, from their own perspective, to be intubated for
typically, by the way, how long is intubation for the COVID patients, on average, give me a rough
average, we don't have, it depends, we don't have good data. So why right now they're talking about,
you know, in 72 hours or 96 hours, we'll know if this person will get better. So that's initial
		

			trial.
		

			And then sometimes people might be two weeks on it, but that's the best try for 72 or 96 hours. And
if they're not getting better than the compensation becomes withdrawing, which we'll talk about in a
second. Okay, so we don't have a four days is the initial default, you just kind of get in three to
four days, right? Right, then after that, you'll get a preliminary assessment of how realistic it is
going to be whether they're actually going to come out or not. Suppose theoretically, somebody is
already elderly, and they, you know, they already have other complications. And they feel you know,
what, I just don't want to go through that procedure. Islamically my point now, the fifth councils
		

			across the globe, and this is the standard position of all of them at the hub. In fact, let me say,
I don't know of any scholar that would disagree, that given that type of scenario, it is not
obligatory on this person to opt in to intubation, hence, the conversation that this person might
want to have, it's up to them, that they should tell their loved ones, their children or their, you
know, their spouses, whatever, that if it gets to that level, and they're going to intubate me,
then, as long as they're, you know, they're uncertain about what the outcome is going to be, I don't
want to opt into intubation. So it's kind of I just wonder why, of course, that's
		

			in the ER, right? I won't necessarily know you have COVID-19 or not, right? I might have to send a
test and might take a few hours to come back. So I don't want people to leave, you're thinking,
Okay, well, all intubations have this, you know, high risk mortality. And that everybody should just
say, I don't want to patient, you could have an asthma flare. And you could be a young person. And I
can tell you with a shorty that, you know, more than 50% of you find after one day is two days or
three days. But if you have COVID-19 positive, then those statistics drop. So I think for families,
we should have a general conversation what my goal is, but if I get COVID, I need to know that the
		

			likelihood is that I might not get off. And I need to tell you that and I didn't think about that
before I get intubated. And so those that's that's the nuance here, right? It might be that they
have asthma, I don't want them to generalize from RBC perfect. So if the result is COVID-19, and
then intubation, then these statistics are okay, so then this conversation needs to take place when
everybody's healthy, everybody's fine. And everybody should have this conversation because Allah who
are them, you know, what's going to happen we were already seeing across the globe, young men and
women who didn't even know they had any symptoms. Any underlying symptoms are being put on
		

			incubators, simply because, you know, you don't know what's going to happen at that stage. So these
are conversations everybody should have Jade. Now let's move to the second one. And that is the
issue of withdrawing. And again, this goes back to the point of what is in your opinion, your
personal opinion, a dignified level of living now, the Shetty i By the way, he doesn't have a very
specific line here and in fact, don't go into too much you know, discussion here but as you're aware
as well, this is a gray area, even within the field councils about what is the fine line be
		

			between life and death in between what not however, generically speaking, generically speaking, most
Roma would say, a dignified living would be that in which you are aware of your surroundings and are
able to therefore do some type of rebirth or they could even if it is mental, that's the bare
minimum level. Now, a lot of people would not want to just be aware mentally, and not do anything
physically, like basically, their brains are functioning but not their bodies, they would to them
that would not be a dignified, a lot of other people would not even want to have anything lesser
than this. And again, I gave this example, a few months ago, when I talked about the issue of not
		

			opting in for medical treatment, one of my teachers that I that impacted me the most on a personal
level, the great Adam Schiff had been Earth, I mean, I'll let him know that he was diagnosed with
stomach cancer. And in the year 2000, he came to America for treatment. And they told him that, you
know, his prognosis was not that much, you know, maybe a few extra months if he does radiation
therapy. And if he were to duration radiation therapy, they told him that, you know, you're going to
lose all your hair, you're going to become sickly, you're going to become weak, you're going to be
vomiting this and that. And, you know, it might if Allah wills in might give you a few extra months,
		

			or maybe even a year. And he was like, I don't want to just go look, thanks. but no thanks. And he
went back. And he did not undergo a single radiation, because he did not eat.
		

			That's what
		

			really is your half that you should be aware of. And you should
		

			be before that time
		

			was mentally fully alert, and he could understand what's going on. But what would happen if you're
not mentally alert? What would happen if your family your children have to make this decision? And
this is really one of the main reasons why I wanted to have this conversation with you, Dr. Austin,
because I've had this question posed to me in the last two weeks by five or six people in my own
extended, you know, direct circle, and 4050 people indirect circle, and you've had this question as
well. And it is so difficult, dear Muslims, you do not want your children or your parents or your
spouse to make this decision? Because it's already difficult enough to see you in that state. Give
		

			them some relief and mercy and make this decision for them before you get to that state. Right,
right.
		

			Yeah, so I'll give you medical data to back that up, right and Islamic point. So we know that
families who have to make decisions to withdraw life support upon their families have symptoms of
anxiety, like PTSD,
		

			you actually cause them harm. We, you know, physicians, right, who have to withdraw life support,
struggle emotionally with that, it's much easier to withhold at the beginning than now I see this
body and three days, four days later, I have to I am the one, I am the proximate cause of
withdrawing that too, and they will die within minutes. So you're actually by not making a decision,
I would argue you're causing harm to both your family and the physicians who have to do that. And we
allowed them to rule it out, as you know, so we should not leave this to them. I've had many
families who struggle with this specific issue, and you know, as well, so I urge people to have
		

			these conversations when they're full and capable. So inshallah we don't cause harm to others. So
this is such a difficult thing PTSD, you know, you all know what that means. You are causing
emotional shock and trauma to your loved ones. If you are not taking reasonable precautions by pre
empting. What might be happening to you, and I'm sorry to guilt trip you. But you know, Dr. Osem,
and me, we are the ones that have to talk to the loved ones because I've had to even three days ago,
I had to talk to somebody that broke my heart like he's literally, you know, literally about to just
break down emotionally. Why? Because he has to make the decision whether to pull the plug or not,
		

			you know, have the medical support. And I'm telling him look at the doctors have told you there is
no hope, but he cannot help but feel guilty. He cannot help but be traumatized that I caused my
father's death. And I told him no, you haven't. It's not your fault. You are not doing anything
wrong. But these are words It hurts him It hurts me it hurts Dr. awesome to have to do it. All of us
are suffering and that's why I'm urging every one of you especially those who are at high risk and
you know who you are, or speak to your doctors to please have these conversations and you know what,
if you don't want to have conversations, at least put it in your will and let everybody know where
		

			your will is right so in case of emergency open envelope, right? You don't have to talk to them. If
it's that awkward, but put it in writing you don't have it notarized or whatever is the legal
mechanism. Go to your lawyer and make sure people know that your wills over there in case of
emergency
		

			open that envelope and document so that it saves the family, the trauma. And again, as the chef,
I've had to be dragged into this and it's so emotional, the doctor has to be dragged into this. It's
not my position to get in between fighting siblings, right? It's not my position to have to, to. And
it's so awkward, because they're already emotionally traumatized. They're already raw. They see
their mother, their father on the ventilator. And then the chef comes in, and they're having a fight
between the chef and themselves. And then, you know, Dr. Osem comes in, and if he has to do it, one
of them is going to be angry at him. The other ones grudgingly saying, yes. Subhanallah it's such a
		

			difficult scenario. And then go ahead, Gloria. So let me tell you the other issue and COVID-19. So
that's generally speaking, right? And my urging to our audience is that you actually not just want
to put it somewhere you want to have a conversation, I'll tell you why. Because right now, you know,
in the hospital, there's a no, no visitor policy. Oh, yeah, that's right. Right. You're not going to
have family around you to make that decision. There will be no one with you. You're lucky if you
have someone to make two hours, a shahada, right. And I've been called a hospital can someone make
to offer this person we know he's Muslim, but there's no one around. And I'm telling you that this
		

			is not something you want your daughter, your son, your wife to write, they can't even see you. And
they don't know what to do. And at times, doctors, what if we get to this, may Allah protect us the
situation? When we're rationing resources, the doctor will just do it and not telling you. Right? So
I'm telling, this is the time we've always avoid death, right? But the hadith is, absolutely you
have them in law that we have to think about this, not just stress, because these might be the
moments you can repair your relationships with people. And you can say, you know, we had a
conversation, right? And my husband and my wife and my daughter are emotionally prepared for this
		

			trauma that might not even be in their heads. Okay, and that case, scrapped my previous advice of
putting it into will, you should do that in regular situations and scenarios. You're absolutely
right, because Subhanallah obviously, in most states in America, you know, visitors are being
allowed inside the hospital. And this is already the case in Europe and across so many countries in
the world, no visitors and what this means As we're all aware, you know, may Allah protect us, but
they're passing away without a single loved one to hold their hands. Without even at times the
family be able to pray janazah at the gravesite in some places and lands. So the situation is indeed
		

			to that level of grimness that we have to preempt that difficult situation. And so do not just write
it down, have those conversations with your family members and understand that they are aware of
your feelings and desires so that they don't because again, I'm speaking to you, as the chef and
doctor also speak to the doctor, I am telling you from more than two dozen cases, not just over
COVID I mean, overall, where the family members start bickering amongst themselves. And brothers and
sisters are yelling and screaming that you and I literally had this case once not over COVID-19,
where one of the siblings was yelling at the others that had me you are murdering my father. That's
		

			literally what he's saying. How do you think they're gonna feel and I'm gonna feel and it's not
murder from an Islamic standpoint, it's not all the majority of Philea across the globe have said
that this is not a dignified state of living for him to just remain, you know, in this, whatever you
want to call it comatose. I mean, he's not. There's no tech leaf, he's just lying there. And there's
no hope of leaving that state. You're simply withdrawing, you know, medical support. This is not in
the Islamic sense at all considered murder, it would be murder or with Ebola with a binder if you
inflicted a pain or a gunshot or something of this nature, but to withdraw life support in that
		

			situation. And scenario, as I said, there is no scholarly body that I've even aware of no fuckface
that I'm even aware of that has said that there's any crime on you. Rather, I know of a number of
scholars who have said it is most the hub to withdraw because that person you are prolonging the
pain they are in many of my teachers, including she actually be one of the greatest football live.
He said in this scenario, you are actually inflicting suffering and pain for no reason. And it is
better and more dignified to simply let Jonnie Allah take its course by withdrawing you know that,
that support. So rather than having that difficult scenario down the line, we're asking you to
		

			preempt it and having this conversation. So to summarize this point before, before we move to our
last one,
		

			the issue of the pros and cons the issue of what is the minimal level of Kurama there is no karma
means dignity. There is no hard and fast rule. And people might have different interpretations. Like
I said, my chef or whatever they mean, his level of caramba was that I can walk on my own and pray
on my own. I don't want to be on the bed and not be able to do such and lose my hair and be with
with their dogs. That was his notion of Kurama very
		

			be high level. And you know what he has that right? He has everybody has the right to have a higher
level. And for some people, they'll be like, No, you know, as long as I'm still mentally conscious,
I'm happy with that. So you know, you have that option to decide what is that level, think about it,
you know, ask your loved ones and whatnot, once you've made up your mind, then have these awkward
conversations about whether even intubation should be on the table, given the pros and cons of your
particular situation only, you know, with consultation with your doctor, the pros and cons, have
that conversation, then have the other conversation that suppose the doctors say, you know, there's
		

			a good chance you'll make it. Then after two, three days, they change their prognosis, and now
you're intubated. And now they have to take it off, rather than have your family worry about it,
again, pre emptive and save them that suffering and have that conversation, you know, with them. So
before we move on to our final point, which is, you know, the issue of the ethics of trying to use
the same ventilator multiple times and if you want to add to these issues, and you can correct me,
but we oftentimes want to see that Rasulullah saw Salam did similar things, you want to act in the
Sunnah, right? And you and I both know in Behati, and the other collections, Ross wa sallam knew the
		

			end of his life, you know, a family member tried to give him medication, and he turned his mouth
away on him. That's
		

			exactly turned away. And then he then said to them, well, you taste it right. And because he was, in
my now Austin Padilla interpretation, he was not wanting that, right. And people were trying to
force that upon him. And resources on knew his death, he had already said a few that are that in
general about it. He knew where he wants to go. And I think for families, we have to recognize this
is not against the Sunnah at all, this might be actually living the Sunnah by saying, I decide that
this is not beneficial, I do not want it, I want to meet. Exactly excellent points. So again, there
and like I said, I am not aware of any scholarly difference of opinion, there is pretty much
		

			unanimous consensus that the person has the right to make this decision. And he should make it or
she should make it in these circumstances so that the loved ones do not make it. So once again, one
of the main takeaways before we move on to the final issue very briefly, is that we are encouraging
every single adult male or female, and frankly, not just those that are in the high risk, obviously,
especially those in the high risk, but not just those that are in the in the high risk. We are
encouraging every single person to think about these issues of whether they want to be intubated or
not. If it is COVID-19. And if they are intubated, then what is the next procedure of withdrawing or
		

			not? What are the pros and cons, think about these issues, speak with your doctor, and then speak
with your family before they have to make that decision for you. So now we get to the final issue
that I have been asked a number of times in the last week. And to be honest, there is no clear cut
answer per se, but I'm just going to bring it up. And again, we're gonna have a conversation here.
And that is the issue of rationing medical devices. And again, subhanAllah it is such a morbid,
filthy question. It is a question that I was researching three, four days ago, because somebody
called me up for this and I'm not going to give a fatwa on my own. On this regard. We are talking
		

			within counsels and we're asking doctors like Dr. Awesome, and others. These are cutting edge issues
that, frankly, it's just depressing to even research and think about. And the question is as follows
that, as you're all aware, across the world, ventilators are on short supply, and you have more
patience than machines. Are you allowed to pick and choose based upon based upon what factors are
you allowed to pick and choose? And can you withdraw? You know, somebody who's on the machine,
because their chances are less and then give to somebody whose chances are more and essentially
cause that person's indirect death for the potential of saving another's life? Not because again,
		

			because see here, if their family or if the person says take me off, no problem, but suppose nobody
says anything. And now the decision is the doctors or the medical facilities, on what basis are they
going to make this decision? And you know, Dr. Awesome, is consulting with a number of field
councils, um, just released a photo, the American Muslim juicer Association, which is somewhat
generic, the field Council of North America, which I'm on, we're also discussing this issue right
now, and other councils are also discussing this and you know, there is no clear cut guideline
because it's such a difficult situation and scenario, and I just want to quote you some basic things
		

			over here that
		

			we do have some precedents in terms of generic fic rulings, the question comes how do you take those
generic filk Maxim's that rulings the federal Maxim's and then specifically apply them so for
example, any Zarqa she and the famous scholar will sort of fit in his element thought he mentions
that there is a rule when we have we have
		

			are a number of people competing for the same hack, and no one of them deserves it more than the
other that Zarqa, she says that you cannot choose any one of them except for a legitimate reason you
cannot just choose except based upon legitimate legitimate reasons The first of them he goes, that
they were first in line a Subak right. So, one of the basic principles that we have is that
generally speaking, it is first come first serve, and that the person who comes earlier versus the
one who comes the next day will have something of a precedence. Another reason Imams silty, says in
his famous book of Maxim's he says, either two out of them have said Mufasa, the tan ruler er
		

			Allahumma oran Bertie, cabbie huffy, Hema, if there are two evils that are necessarily going to
happen, you choose that you you do the lesser of the two, so that you avoid the greater of the two.
So if you're going to have two people that you know are going to die, and one of them's death is
going to cause a greater harm than the other one's death, then you are going to choose the one that
is going to cause lesser harm. Based upon this, a number of councils have said and I agree with
this, that, that not all life is exactly inherently equal. Yes, generally speaking, all life is
equal, generally speaking, but certain people, they play a function in society, for example, the
		

			doctors, for example, nurses, for example, people that are at the forefront. And so and again, in
all jokes aside, in this pandemic, we need doctors, and if there's a doctor who needs the machine,
and then there's just an average person saving the life of the doctor potentially is saving many
dozens of other lives. Likewise, if there is, I'm not gonna say any politician No, if there is a
politician that is logistically involved with pandemics or with helping society, or if there's any
person whose death would actually cause a harm greater than just one person's death, then Islamic
fiqh and Islamic will sort of Afghanistan, or we call it would actually allow us to prioritize,
		

			because it's not a matter of his one person's life, it's a matter of this person is linked with
other people. And so these are things that we can find in in Islamic field. Also, we have, we have
other situations and scenarios as well, and of them is that if all people are totally equal, the
Sharia allows a lottery system. And this is something well known now. And I want to be very clear
here, all that I've just said, is just to make you understand how problematic it is, I do not expect
any doctor to take my generic rulings and then apply them wait for the fifth counsels, to release
more specific fatawa. And there are fatawa that are coming that are somewhat fine tuned, detail
		

			difference, don't worry about it, do whatever is in the best interest of the greater community, and
do not allow yourself to be bogged down in the details of consciousness because there is no right
answer. There is no clear cut answer in this regard. And it is easy to make cases for all different
scenarios. I mean, again, to problematize, another issue young versus old, some would say some would
say that, Oh, a 15 year olds life is more precious than a 60 year olds life. And you know, maybe at
some level, that's true, but not in every single case. And scenario, it is possible that that 60
year old person is going to go on and do something amazing with his or her life, whereas the 15 year
		

			old might die in a natural car wrecks, and in the next year, you don't know the future. And so some
filled councils might say, take that age as a factor. And you know what, they'd have a point to do
that. And some field councils would say, Let's ignore age altogether. Some field councils will say,
and I know one of my mentors is talking about this as well. But you know, we also have to look at a
person who's a breadwinner is not the same as a person who's not. So the death of somebody who's
earning money is going to be a problematic issue for more people, right. And this gets to the very
problem, I can issue a person taking care of a larger family versus a smaller family. And
		

			subhanAllah. Let's not even go into those issues. The reason why I brought this conversation, not
only just to have it with Dr. Awesome, is to impress upon you the grim, somewhat morbid reality of
what COVID-19 is causing us to think about, but again, I've spoken quite a lot. Dr. Awesome. Your
thoughts about this issue? So actually, I think I agree with the idea that you're saying and I think
that I'll just underscore that these are areas where there is really truly no wish to hide in the
context that we're dealing with. And I want to say two points here. So so just so we understand
hamdulillah Ebola right now, in the United States, at least there's never been an action of
		

			rationing for this COVID-19 Even in New York, to have not had to do that, right. We're forecasting
in advance of a scenario and you all should make sure that it doesn't come to a halt.
		

			pass because we haven't yet had to run out of ventilators Right? Which is why interject? That is why
we are flattening the curve. That's correct. That's what we're social distancing. That is exactly
the reason so you don't have to get to this disaster resource allocation ethics, Italy, Spain have
done this Italy and Spain regression. That's correct. Okay. So the second thing I'll say is that
there's a debate within our medical community around two things. So the first factor, I think none
of us disagree in the medical community and in the Islamic community, about the clinical benefit,
right. We know some people might not benefit now that right, the ventilator. And so therefore, we
		

			are encouraging people to have conversations and not go on the ventilator to stop people from coming
on. And we know they might not get off. So clinical benefit calculations are used, and I think
there's no hope today, we know who would benefit most potentially, and we allow them the area we've
gone to, I have some disquietude as a physician, and not just me ethicist in our world and an
assignment scholars. When we start prioritizing, I'll tell you why. Because this first come first
serve thing I understand, right, and I decode the text, but it privileges those who live closer to
hospitals, right. So in suburbia who lives at that hospital, right? That there's intersectionality
		

			of identity, and privileges people and can be discriminatory against people who live far away in the
rural areas, right? Or if you start privileging people who are more valuable What about the person
the die? Right? She think about she's not gonna do that, right? Or someone else that wasn't had so
much to do, but now he's elderly, and had a stroke, while Okay, let him pass maybe, or maybe that
someone else passed those sorts of things. They disturbed the heart, right? We think about that. So
So for me, as a physician, I'm telling you, and also someone who reads is literally the same thing.
I think those sorts of choices wreak sometimes of injustice is that we have to worry about. So let's
		

			I'll take the New York State where they're worrying about this, they've said clearly, we're not
going to make any decisions based on age criteria only. Right? We're not going to make any decisions
based on just social worth of individuals only. Rather, we want to start with clinical benefit. And
then we can think about other things. So I want us to recognize that it's not all consequentialism
about who's worth more, because that is a slippery slope to some decisions that we will make for
people who are marginalized, and I don't think we should go there. And that's why you have to do the
social distancing. You have to wear those masks, you have to have the conversation, I don't want to
		

			ever go on the ventilator so that we don't get to the wild wild west of choosing who lives or dies,
right? Because we think someone's more valuable, and only Allah knows, right? Only Allah Subhana
Allah knows who is most valuable to right, whose do is being accepted. Right, and what harms will
come in the future? We don't know. And don't put us in that situation. Excellent point. So again, to
reiterate all that I said, I'm just giving you various Maxim's that some fulfilled councils across
the globe are using, and I've read three of them. And each one of them has slight differences.
They're not unanimous, because it's a very, very cutting edge gray area. I mean, in the history of
		

			Islam, this type of situation never happened, where it is literally one machine, and maybe 234
people, and you have to decide on the spot, how are you going to do that? And so you have different,
you know, positions coming out. And you know, whichever one that the doctor follows at that time, as
long as it was done for some issue of Greater Good inshallah they are forgiven because there is no
right. I mean, if you're going to choose one they're going to, so there is no right answer over
here. And that's why, again, and again, for three weeks, I've been saying this brothers and sisters,
the reason why we're being so strict about this social distancing, and this isolation and shutting
		

			down the misogyny is because we don't want anyone to have to make that decision. We don't want
anyone to be there where we don't have enough machines to take care of our loved ones who might
just, you know, might not like might not be COVID-19, it might be an asthma issue. And the doctor
says, Look, we need a machine. But we don't have one right now. Why? Because people weren't
practicing social isolation, because people were acting recklessly. And now all the machines are
being used, and perhaps your loved one who was essentially guaranteed that it wasn't COVID-19 And
it's something else. Now they don't have that position because society acted recklessly. It's really
		

			that's the whole point of us changing all of our lifestyles, so that all of us benefit potentially,
if something goes wrong. So I think we've gone over the time as well. But honestly, Dr. Austin was a
pure pleasure talking with you going back and forth. And again, I want to reiterate, this is just a
conversation to raise public awareness. The main takeaway is to talk to your loved ones about before
intubation is done, and after it is done, about whether you want it to be done before it is done.
And once it is done once if you if you decide to opt in, that's only if you decide to opt in, under
what circumstances do you feel that you would want to opt out have that conversation before it
		

			actually happened so that it saves everyone, especially your loved ones? That very, very difficult?
		

			An emotional conversation which is not something you ever want to see, I have been in rooms where
this has happened. Dr. Austin has been in rooms when he's actually had to do the the thing that's
patola you just don't want to be there. You don't want to be there, save your loved ones that
difficulty that's really the main takeaway as for specific factoids about your situation and
scenario, neither Doctor awesome was giving you medical advice, nor I was giving you specific
fatwas. So it was just a generic conversation Doctor awesome any last words before we conclude off
you can just hope inshallah Tada we can continue this conversations and I you know, I fully agree
		

			that we have to think about this and be responsible, you know, for our families and this is
something we should think about now May Allah make it easy for all of you and keep us all you're
there as you don't know what to all we accept it. So I really expect the viewer to make dua for all
of us in this time. And they'll lift this this trial this Mala from us, I mean, I mean just
Alchemilla Doctor awesome for taking out of your time i He was working on the ER all day long, he
literally just got home and change out of his scrubs and texted me that I'm ready. So we just got
started now Subhanallah I cannot even imagine how you're balancing everything that you're doing. May
		

			Allah bless you and all of the medical workers and doctors and nurses that are on the front line.
Truly this is a time where the medical profession in its entirety has shown what they're really made
of, they really earn the respect of the entire globe and you are the heroes of this timeframe that
is going on We ask Allah that Allah protects you and all of the medical fields and the people
working in the medical fields and that you jet you are able to through your expertise and Allah is
how do your job and protect us and all of this so we better pay attention to your advice as well and
all of this Hamdulillah we have really had a very stimulating conversation. You know, brothers and
		

			sisters if you want to continue this conversation I know Dr. Austin was really busy but maybe in a
few weeks we're gonna have another q&a and another round of of medical questions and whatnot. So
leave your feedback and comments and hamdulillah as you're aware at hamdulillah Epic is doing some
amazing work here. If you're able to help out our Masjid as well you know you can see how to help
out this is the screen is going to tell you how you can donate to keep our Masjid the running
because we are still running Alhamdulillah so we want to give and continue to produce these these
programs with that Chisago Mala who Hi Ron. I hope that Allah subhanaw taala protects you and your
		

			loved ones and me and my loved ones that Allah lifts this Wubba and Bella from us immediately I hope
for a miracle and I hope that in sha Allah we can pray Ramadan communally and together I hope that
we can enjoy Eid as a family and a community together. I hope that ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada protects
all of us Jews are co located on Salam alaykum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh
		

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