Igros Moshe (YD IV #54.2) Question If hospital or government declare a patient dead though according to halacha he is still living and demands that the doctors stop treatment and take him off the respirator, should the doctor refuse to comply and not tell the nurses? Answer In reality telling the nurses to disconnect the respirator which involves them sinning, is not prohibited because of lifnei Iveir since there are other doctors (non Jews and irreligious Jews) who will tell them to disconnect the respirator. Nevertheless it is best if the religious doctors should no longer be involved in this patients treatment. .However if it is a case that it is a Jewish patient then he has an obligation to do everything in his power to save the patient even if it is only for a few days as the patient is now considered a gosais even though he is not actually dead. This means even if it costs the religious doctor a lot of money to pay to have the treatment continued according to what I wrote (YD I #223; YD II #174.4) If following this causes aivah (hatred) because he only seems concerned with Jew, then he is obligated to try and save non Jews also.
did he ever tell someone to quit their job/profession because it's too difficult to be frum?
ReplyDeleteI had a situation like this years ago. Older lady (not Jewish) came in having had a stroke and was on a ventilator. Family was out of town but her son called in to say that it was her wish never to be ventilated and remove it.
ReplyDeleteI was at a loss so I called a Rav I knew with expertise in medical halakha and his advice was "Admit the patient as is and advise the admitting situation to call the family to confirm extubation. Then it's not on you."
(Parenthetically, she recovered overnight and was extubated in the morning, eventually went to a nursing home)
A doctor told me a (,Indian ethnicity) patient was assigned to him in a hospital. The daughter wanted her taken off respirator, he didn't want, cause she was in good shape. Daughter insisted, so he asked an Indian doctor on staff to take the patient. A few days later she dies.
ReplyDeleteA few months later, the Indian doctor comes over to him - 'dont send me any patients like that'.