The Ruling on Informing a Patient of His Medical Condition
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh Salih, does a doctor sometimes need to be untruthful or lie to a patient regarding his health condition? Since this patient cannot bear being told about a serious illness he has.
Answer:
This is the Sunnah (recommended practice): when visiting a sick person, one should console him, broaden his mind, and say, “Now, you are fine, what Allah willed, you are better than before.” This is what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to do when he visited a sick person; he would say, “No harm”Sahih al-Bukhari 5662, and he would make the matter seem easy for him and give him hope of recovery, without making it difficult for him or informing him of something he dislikes or that frightens him. Yes.
Honorable Shaykh Salih, does a doctor sometimes need to be untruthful or lie to a patient regarding his health condition? Since this patient cannot bear being told about a serious illness he has.
Answer:
This is the Sunnah (recommended practice): when visiting a sick person, one should console him, broaden his mind, and say, “Now, you are fine, what Allah willed, you are better than before.” This is what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to do when he visited a sick person; he would say, “No harm”
Don't worry, Allah willing, (your sickness will be) an expiation for your sins.
لا بأس طهور إن شاء الله
Source
قناة «مؤسسة الدعوة الخيرية»، فتاوى على الهواء - الفوزان 27-04-1438هـ — youtube.com (43:04)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.