PASSIVE EUTHANASIA Moshe Zemer
QUESTION: A man, age forty, was suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis which is characterized by progressive paralysis of his muscles. At the terminal stage the patient cannot swallow of use his muscles any more. He is in extreme pain and discomfort. The prognosis is certain and irreversible. The patient appealed to the District Court of Tel Aviv for an injunction against his physician and hospital to refrain from connecting him to a lung-heart machine. The injunction was granted. W member of the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism asked whether such a decision would be contrary to the position of the halakhah.
One value is the sanctity of life, gedushat hahayim, of every human being. To save this life one may transgress all the commandments of the Torah except three: murder, incest and idolatry.
The other is the concern and compassion for the suffering of a person created in the image of God . Many mitzvot have been put aside in order to alleviate this suffering and to preserve human dignity- kevod habriyot.
There are times that when you preserve a person’s life, you prolong his unbearable suffering. On the other hand, there are situations in which the only relief from this suffering is in death. finding relief may be in ending
x and varied phenomena the form that fits our ever, briefly mention
Euthanasia involves a series of comple and activities. I shall confine my responsum to question namely passive euthanasia. I shall, how two other forms that will shed light on our case.
There is well the known case of Rabbi Yehudah ih maidservant who prayed for his recovery. However, when she= a how great was his suffering she prayed that he be released from hi