Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Frum Schiavo?
erri Schiavo might still be alive had she been in a hospice in New York State rather than Florida.
A Queens Supreme Court justice, citing state and Orthodox Jewish law, ruled last week that a feeding tube is not medicine and must be inserted into a patient who cannot swallow unless the patient had provided explicit instructions to the contrary.
Schiavo's husband, Michael, had the feeding tube removed from his wife because he said she would not have wanted to be kept alive by a tube. Terri Schiavo did not have a living will or health-care proxy. She died March 31, 13 days after the tube was removed.
Judge Martin Ritholtz rendered his opinion in a case involving Lee Kahan, 86, an Orthodox Jewish woman.
One question was whether Kahan's "deeply held values as an observant Jew" were being breached by the actions of her daughter, so Ritholtz devoted a portion of his 17-page decision to a discussion of how Orthodox Jewish law regards feeding tubes.
"Judaism views nutrition and hydration by feeding tubes or intravenous lines not as medical treatment but as supportive care, no different from washing, turning or grooming a dying patient," the judge wrote. "The first Halachic [Jewish law] principle of medical intervention is that whenever it is possible to increase the longevity of a patient, it should be done.
"On the other hand, Halacha certainly takes pain and suffering into account. Under certain exceptional circumstances, only to be determined by a competent rabbi, it has been held by [the leading 20th century Halachic authority] Rabbi Moshe Feinstein that for a patient with pain and suffering who cannot be cured and cannot live much longer, it is not obligatory for physicians to administer medications briefly to prolong his life of pain and suffering, but nature may be allowed to take its course."
Ritholtz then quoted a differing opinion, saying Rabbi Eliezer Waldenberg, a contemporary of Rabbi Feinstein, believed that "suffering serves to increase a person's merit, and therefore prolonged suffering is a good reason to prolong life in order to erase sins and to allow the person an opportunity to repent."
"From this cursory overview, it is clear that the halachic view can be intricate and complex," the judge wrote. "In practice, the final decision must involve detailed investigation and full consultation between the doctors, the family and the rabbis on a case-by-case basis."
A Queens Supreme Court justice, citing state and Orthodox Jewish law, ruled last week that a feeding tube is not medicine and must be inserted into a patient who cannot swallow unless the patient had provided explicit instructions to the contrary.
Schiavo's husband, Michael, had the feeding tube removed from his wife because he said she would not have wanted to be kept alive by a tube. Terri Schiavo did not have a living will or health-care proxy. She died March 31, 13 days after the tube was removed.
Judge Martin Ritholtz rendered his opinion in a case involving Lee Kahan, 86, an Orthodox Jewish woman.
One question was whether Kahan's "deeply held values as an observant Jew" were being breached by the actions of her daughter, so Ritholtz devoted a portion of his 17-page decision to a discussion of how Orthodox Jewish law regards feeding tubes.
"Judaism views nutrition and hydration by feeding tubes or intravenous lines not as medical treatment but as supportive care, no different from washing, turning or grooming a dying patient," the judge wrote. "The first Halachic [Jewish law] principle of medical intervention is that whenever it is possible to increase the longevity of a patient, it should be done.
"On the other hand, Halacha certainly takes pain and suffering into account. Under certain exceptional circumstances, only to be determined by a competent rabbi, it has been held by [the leading 20th century Halachic authority] Rabbi Moshe Feinstein that for a patient with pain and suffering who cannot be cured and cannot live much longer, it is not obligatory for physicians to administer medications briefly to prolong his life of pain and suffering, but nature may be allowed to take its course."
Ritholtz then quoted a differing opinion, saying Rabbi Eliezer Waldenberg, a contemporary of Rabbi Feinstein, believed that "suffering serves to increase a person's merit, and therefore prolonged suffering is a good reason to prolong life in order to erase sins and to allow the person an opportunity to repent."
"From this cursory overview, it is clear that the halachic view can be intricate and complex," the judge wrote. "In practice, the final decision must involve detailed investigation and full consultation between the doctors, the family and the rabbis on a case-by-case basis."
