| Popis: |
The major concern of this thesis is about the current professional standard of care under Saudi Arabian medical law, regarding doctors’ duty to disclose information and risks to competent adult patients about a proposed medical treatment. Additionally, the thesis has highlighted other legal deficiencies that occur as a result of applying the professional standard in Saudi Arabia and considered how reforms can be introduced, based on English law experience in a way that is in harmony with Islamic Sharia. The thesis has undertaken a novel approach by critically studying and comparing the current practice in Saudi Arabian medical law to the comparative English law approach. The reason for this is to provide a comprehensive legal literature review based on the extremely well- developed English law experiences in the same matters. Realising the significance of the principle of the respect for autonomy, the thesis has placed a noticeable emphasis on this principle by arguing that considering and respecting autonomy would lead the law to protect the patient’s autonomy and self-determination in a medical context. The thesis has argued that both Western and Islamic Sharia medical ethics have considered the notion of the respect for patients’ autonomy, but that consideration has been approached differently, as the thesis has shown. Further, the thesis has critically discussed how the English law standard of care has been developed in the last three decades, in order to move from the professional standard of care to a new standard that protects patients’ autonomy and self-determination. These developments and years of experience have provided sufficient arguments and supports for the thesis’s motion to recommend and suggest that Saudi Arabian medical law departs from the professional standard and adopts the prudent patient standard to protect patients’ autonomy in compliance with Islamic Sharia. In addition to proposing a legal formula for the prudent patient standard that can be adopted by Saudi Arabian medical law, this thesis has also proposed other formulas as solutions for other legal deficiencies, based on English law experience and in accordance with Islamic Sharia. |
