![]() A 2011 study of lung cancer patients found that hospice patients fared better on average than those who received more aggressive care. However, various studies suggest that hospice patients often live longer and do better than those who opt for more aggressive treatment. but could receive medications to extend their lives, in which they would suffer, should not be given such medications.” The late Israeli authority Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach issued a similar ruling, stating that “it is reasonable that if the patient experiences great pain and suffering, or even extremely severe psychological pain … it is permissible to withhold medications that cause suffering to the patient if the patient so demands.” (Most Orthodox authorities do not consider nutrition, hydration and oxygen, even if artificially provided, to be medical treatments and generally do not permit them to be discontinued.) Does hospice mean I’m giving up?įor many, the term “hospice” connotes resignation in the face of death and seems to run counter to the Jewish imperative to seek life and preserve it. The 20th-century American Orthodox authority Rabbi Moshe Feinstein ruled that “those individuals whom the physicians recognize cannot be cured. “The purchase of an additional three months of life in a pain-filled and dying condition does not, in our judgment, meet that standard.” “One is obligated to accept treatment that offers a reasonable prospect of therapeutic effectiveness, the attainment of an accepted medical purpose,” the statement read. In 2008, the Reform movement’s rabbinic authorities stated that a lung cancer patient was not obligated to undergo treatment that offered only three months of life extension while causing significant pain and suffering. Two 1990 Conservative papers allow a patient to refuse treatment if the patient believes they cannot bear it and its efficacy is in doubt. Within the Conservative and Reform movements, the autonomy of individuals to make decisions concerning their health care, including the right to refuse such care, is given broad standing. In cases where diseases cannot be cured and medical interventions would be risky, painful, of uncertain efficacy or serve merely to prolong a life of unbearable physical or psychic pain, there is support in Jewish law for an individual’s right to reject such treatment. Jewish tradition generally requires that every effort be made to sustain and extend life, but that position is not absolute. ![]() Does Judaism allow a person to turn down medical intervention? The example given is of a sound - for example, the noise from a woodchopper - that can be stopped if it is preventing a dying person from departing. ![]() After both of them perished, a divine voice called out that both the rabbi and the executioner had been granted life in the world to come.Ī similar idea is conveyed in the ruling of Rabbi Moshe Isserles, known as the Rema, who in his commentary on the Shulchan Aruch writes that while it is strictly forbidden to take any active steps to hasten death, it is permissible to remove obstacles to the soul’s departure. At that point, the executioner removed the wool and leaped into the flames. When the executioner asked the rabbi if removing the wool and allowing the rabbi to die faster would grant the executioner a life in the world to come, the rabbi said yes. A damp piece of wool was placed on his chest to prolong the agony of his execution. The Talmud (Avodah Zarah 18a) offers support for this idea in the story of the second-century sage Rabbi Hanina ben Teradion, whom the Romans wrapped in a Torah scroll and set afire as punishment for teaching Torah. While some Jewish authorities are very stringent in these matters, there is ample support in Jewish tradition for ceasing interventions that offer no hope of cure and serve merely to delay death. ![]() Does Judaism require life-prolonging interventions in all cases? The following is a general overview of contemporary Jewish perspectives on the topic. The decision to choose hospice care is a personal one, as is the amount in which Jewish tradition informs one’s choices for end of life care. Patients who choose hospice care opt to forego aggressive medical care aimed at curing them in favor of therapies geared toward reducing pain and sustaining the highest quality of life for as long as possible. Patients are typically referred to hospice care when further medical treatment is not expected to reverse the course of their disease. Hospice is an approach to caring for individuals who are suffering from terminal illnesses and are expected to live for six months or less. This post is part of a series sponsored by and developed in partnership with MJHS Health System and UJA-Federation of New York to raise awareness and facilitate conversations about end of life care in a Jewish context. MJHS Health System & UJA-Federation of New York
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