Posted on 12/07/2005 7:20:30 PM PST by Crackingham
Machines will perform euthanasia on terminally ill patients in Israel under legislation devised not to offend Jewish law, which forbids people taking human life. A special timer will be fitted to a patient's respirator which will sound an alarm 12 hours before turning it off.
Normally, carers would override the alarm and keep the respirator turned on but, if various stringent conditions are met, including the giving of consent by the patient or legal guardian, the alarm would not be overridden. Similar timing devices, known as Sabbath clocks, are used in the homes of orthodox Jews so that light switches and electrical devices can be turned on during the Sabbath without offending religious strictures.
Parliamentarians reached a solution after discussions with a 58-member panel of medical, religious and philosophical experts.
"The point was that it is wrong, under Jewish law, for a person's life to be taken by a person but, for a machine, it is acceptable," a parliamentary spokesman said. "A man would not be able to shorten human life but a machine can."
But I didn't comment on it because it seemed like one of those distinctively Orthodox-Jewish principles that wouldn't make sense to me as a non-Jew.
Does somebody who knows more want to explain it for us?
Ohhhhh! I think I figured it out!
The machine is set so that you must actively keep the machine running. Turning off the machine is different from allowing it to shut off on it's own.
Maybe that's it?
Ok...I really think I got it.
It's an active/passive thing. You actively set the machine up, then actively keep it running, then passively stop re-setting it when the decision is made to end life support. Twelve hours later, possibly with family and friends around, *the machine* shuts down.
It doesn't make sense to me as a (admittedly non-Orthodox) Jew. I don't think G-d is fooled my technicalities.
Hand-cranked. Or drawn by oxen.
Being human-What Jewish law has to say about the Terry Schiavo case.
The Terri Schiavo Case: Related Ethical Delemias (Jewish Perspective)
Should Terri Schiavo Live or Die? (According to Jewish Teaching)
Yes, a bioethicist is a PR specialist paid by hospitals to invent lies that justify whatever the hospitals want to do.
Needless to say, these folks don't spend much time studying the Ten Commandments or traditional moral literature during their professional training.
I am fortunate to have several doctors at the moment whom I trust. But I would not want to go into the hospital without a family member to back me up and keep an eye out for me.
I hope you're right that in the actual legislation "neither active euthanasia nor the termination of nutrition would be permitted" and that the news reporter isn't getting the distinction.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1132475695637&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
"If requested in a living will or by a person chosen to decide on his behalf, a terminally ill patient who is over the age of 17 could ask that his life not be extended by artificial means.
The withholding of nutrition and active euthanasia would not be permitted because they violate Halacha... "
To which I say, "Thank God for Halacha."
back to the drawing board
South Florida is full of Jewish followers. We could sure use some of that Halacha in Florida. Florida is still The Starvation State.
ping
I concur. The Orthodox and their light timers are as guilty of misinterpretation as any, simply because the timer violates the spirit of the tenet they claim to be upholding: to wit, electricity doesn't come from a hole in the wall, there are people ON DUTY in most powerplants and every major distribution centre 24/7. They're not there attending synagogue on the Sabbath, they're WORKING!
To use someone else's work product from Sabbath day work, or cause them to work on the Sabbath, is forbidden under the strict interpretation of most other biblical edicts (kosher eg) I've seen from the Orthodox.
Then again, I'm not an Orthodox Rabbi, so I am ignorant as to their reasoning around their own rules.
Everything has its context. If readers here would like the facts on which to actually base comments, you are welcome to visit my Blog where I have written on this in several posts.
By the way, Wesley J. Smith, noted anti-euthanasia attorney and author, called the above Telegraph article "stupid" because it has misrepresented the Israeli law.
http://meiraonline.blogspot.com/2005/12/euthanasia-in-israel-part-3-know-facts.html
http://www.wesleyjsmith.com/blog/2005/12/israel-not-doing-euthanasia-by-machine.html
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.