Health Information Ethics in the Light of Two Prominent World Religions - Islam and Christianity

Abstract

Background: Health information is an integral part of the healthcare process. It constitutes the most important information quantitatively handled by the healthcare system and the most relevant, qualitatively. It is in this information that descriptions of care activities and production are based. Health information ethics deals with questions of wrong and right, resulting from the use of both manual and technologies in managing patient’s health records and health information. This paper reviews salient verses of the Scriptures directly related to health information ethics. Methods: Related verses of Al-Qur’ãn, Sunnah and the Bible were employed to support statements on health information ethics. Results: Healthcare providers have a duty to keep confidential, any information pertaining to the representation of a patient. This serves the purpose of encouraging patients to speak frankly about their reason for seeking care. The patients’ health records and hospital-held health information is a crucial tool in the management of patient’s health and life processes. It is also a means to enhance medical evaluation, healthcare research and public health trust however, it is being threatened by woes of technological advancement and unethical behaviour of healthcare providers/other stakeholders. Conclusion: Al-Qurãn, the Sunnah and the Bible are the source of all knowledge. These scriptures have prescribed how to responsibly and professionally protect patients’ health records and information. It is hoped that relevant stakeholders would go by the dictates in the Scriptures in order to restore the ethical values in health information management with a view to enhancing healthcare services and improving public health.