On the ottoman consent documents for medical interventions and the modern concept of informed consent

Information for patients prior to medical intervention is one of the principles of modern medical practice. In this study, we looked at an earlier practice of this principle. Ottoman judges had record books called sicil. One of the categories in sicils was the consent documents called riza senedi, which was a patient-physician contract approved by the courts. These contracts were especially for the protection of physicians from punishment if the patient dies. It is not clear whether patients were informed properly or not. Consent for minors was obtained from parents. However, a situation where an adult does not have the capacity to consent, was not clear in these documents. Any sign of free withdrawal of consent was not found in these records. Due to the legal system of Ottoman State, these contracts were related to Islamic law rather than modern civil law. We aim, in this paper, to present a legal practice, which is possible to consider as an early example of the informed consent practice

Childrens' rights and a sample study on accidents in children groups aged 0-5 years old in the light of parents' responsibility in Turkey

Most frequent reasons for the accidents seen in children under 5 years of age who have a right to be cared and protected are negligence and carelessness. In this study, judicial cases were compiled from children between the age of 0 to 5, who had been injured due to severe family negligence. Files of cases were obtained from archives with file numbers, indicating cases obtained from the records of the hospital and police were studied retrospectively. The gender, age, and type of application of patients, the type of interference, and the results obtained from the procedure were studied. This study encompasses the results of cases at Osmangazi University Training, Practice and Research Hospital, Eskisehir, Turkey, between September 1999 and March 2001. Forty of 113 cases [35.4%] were due to poisoning from drugs. The main reasons were unawareness of children regarding the harm of drugs, putting drugs in reach of children and easy access to drugs from pharmacies without prescription. On the other hand, the recognition of international measures by the Turkish government is a guarantee for the children's rights. Our study implies that, as suggested by other researchers, the investigation of measures to prevent injuries due to negligence and the application of these measures will certainly improve the welfare of society

religious tradition of Ishaq Ibn Ali Al-Ruhawi: the author of the first medical ethics book in islamic medicine

After 5th century A.D. cities of Urfa [Edessa or Ruha as is known in the history] and Harran had become to be a distinguished centres for science. In those centuries the books written in the Ancient Greece was translated into Arabic at the 'School of Harran', but later many original books were written by the scholars at this school. Among these scholars Ishaq ibn 'Ali Al-Riihawi and his key text Adab al-Tabib have a special relevance to the History of Medicine. This work aims to examine the unique and only hand-written Arabic copy of Adab al-Tabib and its English translation made by Martin Levy. The study not only demonstrates the revolutionariness and farseeningness of er-Ruhawi's deontological treaties but also critically analyses the English translation of the book as well as the western literature on it. The paper demonstrates how important it is to have some basic knowledge about the tradition and the belief of the writer whom you translate his book. Otherwise it is inevitable to misinterpret not only the concepts but also the words