Approach to the patient hospitalized during the Muslim Ramadan: bioethical and clinical considerations

Multi-ethnicity has been persuading the healthcare professionals to increasingly learn new tools in terms of cultural and social skills, in order to cope with a diversified variety of patients. The coexistence of different cultures in Italy can be found in the migration flows over the last few decades. The cohabitations between individuals with different ethnicity in our territory has led the health professionals to address some anthropological, moral, religious and political issues implied in populations and cultures different from ours. Clinical literature has made us aware of the importance of correct communication between doctor and patient in order to determine the diagnostic-therapeutic plan, especially in the patients with a foreign origin due to the linguistic and intercultural differences implicated. In an emergency condition, it may occur to cure the patients neglecting their cultural identity and, in so doing, to create misunderstandings that, in turn, can lead to a lack of human relationship and frustrate the therapeutic project. An example is the treatment of Muslim people. The authors, through the description of a case observed during Ramadan, analyze the variables applying to the therapeutic decision making process.