Term
| R'Bleich on modern gesisut |
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Definition
| nowadays, there is NO SUCH THING as a goses, because of our modern technology - you can never tell for sure if someone will die. Therefore, there is ALWAYS a duty of rescue, and you can NEVER let someone die. |
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Term
| R'David ha-Levi on modern gesisut |
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Definition
| ALL forms of modern life support - the person who is dependent on them is a goses; therefore it is always permissible to let them die. |
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Term
| R'Elyashiv on modern gesisut |
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Definition
| If someone is a goses, it would seem that it is our duty to prevent him/her from being in pain (note: seems to agree with the Shiltei Giborim's interpretation of Sefer Chassidim) - even if that would shorten his/her life, such as with certain painkillers. |
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Term
| R'Shlomo Zalman Orbach on modern gesisut |
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Definition
| If a given treatment would prolong gesisut, it may be withheld; but it may not be WITHDRAWN. |
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Term
| R'Moshe on modern gesisut |
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Definition
| Agrees with Shiltei Giborim - it is not allowed to prolong death. Someone should NOT be put on life support, and if they are on it, although you shouldn't turn it off immediately, the battery should be allowed to die. They can be denied any treatment on this basis, but NOT food and water. |
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Term
| R'Moshe agrees with the Shiltei Giborim on gesisut; how does this apply to practical modern treatment? |
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Definition
- One has a duty to the goses to keep him from being in pain
- i.e. one may not prolong gesisut itself
- the patient has a right to determine what is too much pain to deal with and reject treatments based on that. |
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Term
| Mishna in Ohalot on the definition of death |
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Definition
- a person isn't dead until his life has departed
- and the same with animals
- movement means something is alive, unless there has been decapitation. |
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Term
| Mishna Chulin on defining death |
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Definition
| an animal that keeps moving after death is alive, UNLESS there has been decapitation |
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Term
| Mishna Chulin (debate on death signs) |
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Definition
if someone slaughters an animal on the verge of dying...
R'Gamliel: if it moved after death, it was alive.
R'Eliezer: if there was blood flow after death, it was alive.
Chachamim: R'Eliezer is incorrect! Only bodily movement signals life. |
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Term
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Definition
In the famous case of the building collapse on Shabbat...you keep digging in order to make sure the person is alive.
- you dig until the nose
- some say until the heart
Braita: Abba Sha'ul says that the fetus grows from the diaphragm
- we learn from here that Abba Sha'ul was the person who said "heart", and it's a misquote - he actually said "diaphragm"
in other words, everyone agrees that breathing determines life.
- WHY was it swapped to "libo"?
- because it CAN'T really have been diaphragm - then it wouldn't have been rejected (of COURSE you make sure that someone's breathing isn't blocked before you declare them dead!)
- therefore it must have been "libo" and this is rejected in favor of breathing as a determinant of life. |
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Term
| use the story of Eliyahu and the boy to explain why one has a duty of pikuach nefesh towards a buried goses |
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Definition
Eliyahu lay on top of the dead boy to revive him - wasn't he tamei meit?
- nope - because he knew the boy could be revived - the condition was REVERSIBLE - it wasn't death from his point of view!
- likewise, if a person is goses but MIGHT be saved, or has the signs of death but it can be reversed, there is a duty of rescue! |
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Term
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Definition
| SAFEK pikuach nefesh is docheh shabbat - so if you think there's a possibility of saving someone, or a possibility a goses' condition is reversible, you break shabbat for them. |
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Term
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Definition
| If a pregnant woman dies on Shabbat, you carry a knife through r'shut harabbim to perform an emergency caesarian section on her. Because if the fetus survived, it was retroactively viable and therefore retroactively a life; so there is a safek that it's a life and therefore a safek pikuach nefesh, and therefore you break shabbat to potentially save it. |
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Term
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Definition
| In our day we don't know enough to determine if the mother is for sure dead; so therefore post-mortem caesarians aren't done even on a weekday. |
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Term
| what are two problems with the Rama on Erchin? |
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Definition
- how can he say his generation is LESS scientifically knowledgeable (able to accurately determine death) than those before?
- if he is so worried about misdiagnosing death, how come he doesn't insist that Yoma victims (from the building collapse) be dug out all the way, even if they aren't breathing? |
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Term
| Moses Mendelson vs. R'Emden |
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Definition
MM: Rama himself admits that we are concerned about misdiagnosing someone as dead. We should go back to cave burial, like our ancestors.
R'Emden: The Rama is merely making an observation when he says "we don't do this" - we don't do it because it's not common, not because we're worried about misdiagnosing death! Our ancestors were unconcerned about misdiagnosis of death when they practiced burial, and therefore we shouldn't be concerned. |
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Term
| Chatam Sofer responding (indirectly to MM), and the issues with his response. |
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Definition
"cessation of movement, heartbeat, and breathing, irreversibly, determine death."
- HEARTBEAT?
this position was rejected ages ago! It's probable that he was just trying to make a strong case and not look outdated; but people started using heartbeat as part of standard criteria towards determination of death. |
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Term
| R'Waldenberg and R'Bleich on full brain death |
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Definition
| NOT an acceptable definition of death; as long as the heart is beating, the person is alive. |
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Term
| R'Yehuda Gershuni on full brain death |
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Definition
| acceptable definition of death - it's like decapitation, in that the brain has no control over the body in any way. |
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Term
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Definition
| both higher and lower brain functions are gone; brain has no central control - no breathing, no movement, no brain activity, and it's NOT caused by depressents or hypothermia |
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Term
| R'Tendler on whole brain death |
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Definition
| it's a good definition of death; there's no movement - heartbeat was REJECTED as a determinant of death! |
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Term
| Rav Aaron Soloveitchick on whole brain death |
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Definition
| NOT acceptable, because it's a slippery slope until people are saying HIGHER brain death is death. |
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Term
| original health care proxy |
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Definition
- follows Rav Moshe: a patient can reject treatment on basis of pain
- whole brain death is death
- organ donation is strongly encouraged
- cornea transplants (R'Unterman) are deemed pikuach nefesh |
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Term
| Agudath Israel on the original health care proxy |
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Definition
- whole brain death isn't death - the heart is beating
- organ donation is murder for the same reason (heart is still beating) |
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Term
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Definition
case of two people in the desert with enough water for the survival of only one person
Ben Petura: better to both die than watch your friend die
R'Akiva: untrue
question on both: forbidden/preferable/permissible? |
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Term
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Definition
| R'Yochanan said you shouldn't try to rescue a captive rabbi; Reish Lakish went anyway and saved him. |
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Term
| Lev Aryeh on Yerushalmi Terumot |
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Definition
We always follow R'Yochanan; in the Yerushalmi it is clear that R'Yochanan said that trying to save him was not PERMISSIBLE - therefore one MAY NOT risk one's own life for another.
- on that note, NO LIVE ORGAN DONATION |
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Term
| counter examples to the Lev Aryeh - ones that would suggest that killing oneself for certain causes is okay |
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Definition
- R'Yishmael's children
- captives on a boat to pagan slave markets
- Sha'ul's suicide
and most importantly
SEFER CHASSIDIM
- sinking boat: an older person may give up life for a younger one, and a less learned person for a more learned person |
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Term
| R'Grosnas on organ donation |
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Definition
Lev Aryeh's interpretation - that it is not allowed to risk one's life for someone else
- therefore no organ donation
REVERSED HIS POSITION
- nowadays, it's acceptable risk. |
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