Issuing Medical Certificates Under False Pretences

Q: I am a medical practitioner and we usually issue medical certificates to sick patients. Sometimes patients are not really ill, but seek a certificate out of fear for losing their jobs should they fail to produce one as reason for their absence. Is it permissible for us doctors to issue a certificate under false pretences?

A: To certify a patient as ill when he is not really so, is tantamount to giving false evidence. No matter what valid reason an employee has for staying out of work, the doctor cannot falsely certify him or her as sick. The doctor will have to explain the Islamic and moral position to the patient and kindly refuse. If money is taken in lieu of such untrue certificates then the sin is even bigger.