ethics of holy water and Islam

Nurses Safety

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We are nursing a Muslim lady with a diagnosis of permanent vegetative state,

Today a Nurse interupted her sister pouring a substance into a jug of water used to provide flushes down her peg. The nurse asked her to stop a debate ensued, the sister said she had been told that if the holy water was given for a week the patient would get better, it was obvious that she beleived this in her heart. what would you do

Specializes in Hospice.

Soooo ... we flush g-tubes with water ... do we know the composition, contamination status and provenance of the water that comes from hospital taps?

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Specializes in Infectious Disease, Neuro, Research.
Soooo ... we flush g-tubes with water ... do we know the composition, contamination status and provenance of the water that comes from hospital taps?

Yes, or at least your facility safety officer should. Outbreaks of Legionnaires' are embarrassing when originating in a hospital, so most facilities have annual(at least) testing protocols, and (generally) guidelines for spot-checking when the system is repaired/damaged/etc.. Sprinkling with blessed water is one thing, infusion is getting kinda iffy, on the social-tolerance scale.

Some cultures pack a woman up with cow dung, as immediate post-partum care. Beliefs are not "valid", simply because we hold them. Some beliefs are benign, some are dangerous (no matter how long we've played with ceremony/substance X, use does not make the substance or process safe or efficacious).

In general, people throughout the world are living longer through improved medical care, infection control, vaccination, education and so forth. If a ceremony or process can pass standards of care/infection control, then by all means. If not, take gramma home, pump her full of creek water, and stick her in a sweat lode at 120*(actually, sweatlodges are good for some things, but that's another story), and let us know how it works out- just don't expect to be sent home with a running infusion of antibiotics while this is being done.

If "sensitive" is synonymous with regressive and ignorant, I'm happily, joyfully, insensitive.:cool:

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Specializes in Hospice.

I don't disagree ... I just wonder at a federal case being made out of water that's considered "holy" requiring all this analysis and orders and coverage of butts, when the water we use everyday isn't. Just seems like overkill.

And in 40 years in the industry, the only time I've seen water being tested has been when there's actually been an outbreak of waterborne illness in the hospital. There may be "protocols" but I suspect they're honored mainly in the breach,

The OP did not describe a cow-dung pack or a parenteral infusion ... it was water going into a g-tube.

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