Mishpat 221.2). Furthermore, it was thought appropriate to stop acts which would hinder the soul from a departure, so Sefer Hasidim(723) stated that if a dying person was disturbed by wood chopping, it should be halted so that the soul might depart peacefully. Isserles (to Shulhan Arukh, Yoreh Deah 339.1) stated that anything which stood in the way of peaceful death should be removed. Solomon Eger , in his commentary to the same passage of the Shulhan Arukh, stated that one should also not use medicine to hinder the soul’s departure; he based himself on Beit Yaakov(50). Clearly, as long as some form of independent life persists, nothing should be done to hasten death and all medicines which may be helpful must be used. Once this point has been passed, it is no longer necessary to utilize further medical devices in the form of drugs or mechanical apparatus.
We must now attempt to define the turning point, when "independent life" has ceased, and we can best do so by looking carefully at the Jewish and modern medical criteria of death. The traditional criteria were based on a lack of respiratory activity and heart beat(M. Yoma 8.5; Yad, Hil. Shab. 2.19; Shulhan Arukh, Orah Hayim 329.4). Lack of respiration alone was considered conclusive if the individual lay as quietly as a stone(Responsa Hatam Sofer, Yoreh Deah, #38). All of this was discussed at some length in connection with the provision of the Shulhan Arukh that an attempt be made to save the child of a woman dying in childbirth; even on Shabbat a knife might be brought to make an incision in the uterus in order to remove the fetus (Shulhan Arukh, Orah Hayim 330.5). This statement, however, conflicted with the prohibition against moving a limb of someone who was dying, lest that hasten the death(Shulhan Arukh, Yoreh Deah 339.1). If one waited until death was absolutely certain, then the fetus would also be dead.
Absolute certainty of death, according to the halakhic authorities of the last century, had occurred when there had been no movement for at least fifteen minutes(Gesher Hayim 1, 3, p. 48) or an hour(Responsd Yismach Lev, Yoreh Deah,#9) after the halt of respiration and heart
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