Mark N. Staitman
Jews are unusually large consumers of medical care. We are quick to call upon the expertise of the physician to cure. Because of medical advances we live longer, and much which might have killed us in an earlier time is now curable. Among the most difficult issues facing the liberal Jew is the issue of medical care at the"end stages of life." The"end stages of life" are no longer well defined. Generally we are familiar with the non-Jewish thought on this issue, but have little knowledge of Jewish thought. Positions held by liberal Jews tend to be reflective of the non-Jewish thinking. This is not difficult to understand. The"popular literature" has had little discussion of the"end stages of life" from a Jewish perspective. Even the most popular periodicals in the Jewish community have carried have hardly concerned themselves with the issue.
This paper will first discuss the reasons why the non-Jewish categories and paradigms for approaching this issue are inadequate for liberal Jews . The paper will define a theology which allows for a liberal Jewish approach to the issue and then apply this theology to the issue of the treatment of Jewish patients in a persistent vegetative state.
Most non-Jewish discussion of the issue of treatment during the "end stages of life" comes from Catholic moral theology. Catholicism argues that God alone is absolute. Life was created and redeemed by God , but life itself is not absolute. Physical life serves as a condition of the fulfillment of other purposes,(the love of God , love of neighbor, etc.). Life should be protected and preserved. Its sovereignty is delegated to humanity, but it is limited and conditional. Some killing is permissible, and indeed, in some instanced, required. When then is this sovereignty delegated to humanity?
Christian ethics determined a set of norms which defined when a human being could morally cause an end to life. This led to thinking about killing in moral categories. A concrete example of norms of