A physician asked R. Yaakov Reischer(1670-1733, Austria ) about a patient who was near death. All his doctors gave him but a day or two to live. However, they believed that there was another medicine which may cure him or possibly the opposite, for if he takes the medicine and it does not succeed, Heaven forbid,(has vehalilah) he will die within an hour or two. Is it permissible to give him this drug or are we concerned for his short term life so that it would be preferable to take no action? R. Reischer replied: If it is possible that he may be completely cured by means of this medicine, then we are not concerned about his short term life.
R. Reischer’s verdict is based on a sugya in the Talmud :"Raba said in the name of R. Johanan: In the case where it is doubtful whether the patient will live or die, we most not allow gentile physicians to heal; but if he will certainly die, there is still the life of the hour[hayei shaah) (to be considered).[The conclusion of the gemara is:] The life of the hour is not to be considered."”
ULTRA-ORTHODOX OPPOSITION
Not all of the traditionalists agree with the Chief Rabbinate’s decision on brain death and heart transplants.
R. Shlomo Zalman Auerbach , one of the foremost Orthodox rabbinic authorities in Israel met with Dr. Avraham Sofer Avraham, the head of internal medicine at Jerusalem ’s Sha’arei Zedek Hospital. This physician, who is also an Orthodox rabbi, explained the medical aspects of brain death to him. Auerbach replied:
You have convinced me that in most cases a patient like this(whose brain is irreversibly damaged) will die in an extremely short period of time. However, there is no evidence at all that he is dead now. In any event as long as his heart is beating, it is forbidden to do anything that
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