Respecting Muslim Patients’ Needs

November 1, 2010

Author: Roni Caryn Rabin

Source: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/01/health/01patients.html

A woman in her mid-30s wearing a hijab, the traditional Muslim head covering, comes to an urgent care center complaining of leg pain. The first thing she asks: “Are there any woman doctors around?”

 

She declines to be alone in an exam room with a male doctor. She does not want to be touched by a man who is not a family member, even as part of a medical examination.

See also: Islam, Women, Health