Jewish Ethics And the Care of End-of-Life Patients: A Collection of Rabbinical, Bioethical, Philosophical, And Juristic Opinions - Hardcover

Ethical dilemmas multiply as medical advances intensify the complexity of decision making at the end of life. A basic issue often arises from the conflict between two highly esteemed values: reverence for life and patients' right to self-determination. This collection of essays tries to address the Jewish approach to such problems. Steinberg, an Israeli physician and ethicist, chaired a 59-member committee that worked from 2000 to 2002 to produce a law regulating the care of dying patients in Israel. The law was enacted in 2005. Steinberg's description of the committee's work, its report and the actual law are the most useful parts of the book. His contributions detail an approach that carefully tried to codify into law a significant version of the Jewish view of death and dying. Lack of consensus on the subject from biblical and Talmudic times to the present made the task difficult. Disagreement is amply documented in the book's other essays that offer different Jewish perspectives on such knotty subjects as assisted suicide, euthanasia, death on demand and the withholding or withdrawal of treatment. Despite the unevenness of the presentations, the anthology sheds useful light on a subject that is of universal concern. (July 15)
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Editor Hurwitz points out in the book's introduction that Jewish law--based on the Torah and the Talmud--determines the behavior of the individual in all the activities of daily life and that the saving of human life has a high priority. In order to save a life, a Jew must transgress all but three of the commandments of the Torah. On the other hand, Jews are commanded to prevent or to alleviate severe suffering. One may not hasten the onset of death, yet one may not delay it when it is imminent. This compilation consists of 11 chapters by respected scholars representing a variety of views and religious orientations, and its intended audience is general readers. Such concepts as the sanctity and quality of life, human dignity, autonomy, suicide, assisted suicide, and termination of life on demand are discussed and defined. Hurwitz posits that "it is our intention to show that Judaism, despite being so strongly determined by laws, still allows for many different and sometimes even opposing viewpoints." This insightful book does that judiciously. George Cohen
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