Fatwa ID: 07890

Answered by: Maulana Sheik Abdel Ahaad Imrit

Question:

Can family members remove life support pipe if there’s no hope of recovery as per doctor’s diagnosis?

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Answer:

With life support technology, we have the ability to keep people alive much longer than we used to. But there are cases where difficult decisions about life support may rest with a person’s loved ones.

Once the brain activity of a person stops, there’s no chance of recovery. In cases where there’s no brain activity detected, a doctor may recommend turning off a respirator machine and stopping artificial nutrition.

The doctor will conduct several tests to be completely certain there’s no chance of recovery before making this recommendation.

After turning off life support, a person who’s brain-dead will die within minutes, because they won’t be able to breathe on their own.

If a person is in a permanent vegetative state but not brain-dead, their life support likely consists of fluids and nutrition. If these are stopped, it may take anywhere from a few hours to several days for the person’s vital organs to shut down completely.[1]

It is recorded in the renowned work Al-Fatawa Al-‘Alamgiriyya that if it is determined that a patient may survive or may die or that they may survive without dying, then treatment will be carried out.

However, if it is established that there is no possibility of survival at all, no treatment will be attempted, and the patient should be left as they are.

Based on this principle, after all efforts have been made and proper consultation with the attending doctors, if it is concluded that there is no hope for recovery or survival, it would be permissible to withdraw life support in such circumstances.

Only Allah knows best

Written by Mawlana Sheik Abdel Ahaad Imrit

Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah

Darul Ifta Birmingham

«الفتاوى العالمكيرية = الفتاوى الهندية» (5/ 360):

«وَلَا بَأْسَ بِشَقِّ الْمَثَانَةِ إذَا كَانَتْ فِيهَا حَصَاةٌ وَفِي الْكَيْسَانِيَّاتِ فِي الْجِرَاحَاتِ الْمَخُوفَةِ وَالْقُرُوحِ الْعَظِيمَةِ وَالْحَصَاةِ الْوَاقِعَةِ فِي الْمَثَانَةِ وَنَحْوِهَا إنْ قِيلَ قَدْ يَنْجُو وَقَدْ يَمُوتُ أَوْ يَنْجُو وَلَا يَمُوتُ يُعَالَجُ وَإِنْ قِيلَ لَا يَنْجُو أَصْلًا لَا يُدَاوَى بَلْ يُتْرَكُ كَذَا فِي الظَّهِيرِيَّةِ.»

[1] https://www.healthline.com/health/making-life-support-decisions#statistics