The essence of the matter is this: Counting prayer, as these authorities did, to be one of the effective therapeutic agencies, their tendency was to say that when it is manifestly impossible for the patient to recover, and he is suffering greatly, it is cruel to use the instrument of prayer to keep him, by force, alive and suffering. Therefore, the conclusion from the spirit of Jewish law is that while you may not do anything to hasten death, you may, under special circumstances of suffering and hopelessness, allow death to come.
ncinnati, 1960).
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