Muslim medical students get picky

Times Online reported Some Muslim medical students are refusing to attend lectures or answer exam questions on alcohol-related or sexually transmitted diseases because they claim it offends their religious beliefs.

Some trainee doctors say learning to treat the diseases conflicts with their faith, which states that Muslims should not drink alcohol and rejects sexual promiscuity.

Their religion says they should not do those things, not that they should not help people who do.

A small number of Muslim medical students have even refused to treat patients of the opposite sex. One male student was prepared to fail his final exams rather than carry out a basic examination of a female patient.

I hope he did fail. I would hate to think there are doctors that are that ignorant of anatomy.

Betsy Newmark blogged Recently, a man failed the bar exam in Massachusetts because he refused to answer a question about gay marriage. I didn't approve of that either. If you have such strong objections, choose a different profession. But a doctor can't refuse to even be educated about certain medical conditions because he disapproves of the patient's personal behavior.