Imposition of Good Samaritan Laws to Improve Professionalism among Medical Practitioners

Abstract

This paper discusses a legal-moral confl ict that exists in the
medical fi eld which pertains to the duties of medical practitioners toward their
patients. More specifi cally, it deliberates on paradoxical situations where
medical practitioners are “legally permitted” to refuse rendering their services
to the needy due to the principles entrenched in the law of negligence. This
legal conundrum has created a moral ‘neglect’ on the part of the medical
practitioners toward their patients who are in dire need of medical treatment.
Hence, this paper argues that the concepts inherent in the Good Samaritan laws
should be imposed on medical practitioners in Malaysia, particularly, since
neglecting patients who urgently require medical attention transgresses the
Islamic principle of helping ones neighbours and the needy, contravenes the
Hippocratic Oath and infringes the conscience of a morally upright individual.