Anonymous neurologists in Meir Hospital detached a terminal
patient from a respirator a week after the president of the
Tel Aviv District Court, Uri Goren, issued an order
permitting the patient's removal from her life support
machines.
Rabbonim and communal leaders expressed their abhorrence and
shock at the grave deterioration around euthanasia. This is
the first time in Israel that an act of euthanasia was
actively carried out officially and legally despite a fierce
public dispute still raging around the legality of passive
euthanasia.
The patient, a 57 year old woman from Hod Hasharon
hospitalized in the neurological ward in Meir Hospital in
Kfar Saba, suffered from terminal muscular dystrophy which
had completely paralyzed her. She was able to communicate
only through blinking her eyes. Adv. Yitzhak Choshen
appealed to the District Court in her name requesting that
she be permitted to terminate her life. Judge Goren, who is
known as a supporter of euthanasia from earlier decisions,
approved the request after the neurological ward reported
that, while two senior doctors in the team refuse to carry
out the euthanasia, two other doctors agreed to detach the
patient from the machine. Judge Goren issued a further
injunction at the request of Kupat Cholim Klalit forbidding
the publication of the names of the doctors who carried out
the euthanasia lest their reputations as professional
medical personnel suffer.
A senior neurologist, one of the doctors who participated in
detaching the patient from the respirator, told the press:
"It was the right thing to do. We need to legalize this so
we don't have to sit clandestinely in our rooms when making
decisions of this kind. These decisions should be
transparent instead of furtive." Euthanasia was administered
to the patient in the hospital instead of at her home, so as
"not to cause suffering to the family."
On Thursday afternoon two weeks ago, the doctors injected
the patient with an anesthetic drug and afterwards detached
her from the respirator. Her death was confirmed a short
time later. It should be noted that the Attorney General,
who resolutely opposed detaching a patient from the
respirator and saw it as a red line which may not be
crossed, changed his position during the trial after Judge
Goren determined in his verdict that "detaching the patient
from the respirator does not constitute an active act on the
part of the doctor executing it."
A senior doctor in Meir Hospital told Yated Ne'eman
that in his opinion, the vast majority of doctors would
not agree to carry out such an action which he defined as
irrefutable murder. The doctor, who asked to remain
anonymous, said, "I and my friends in the staff are not
observant people, but we are horrified and protest that such
a deed was carried out in the hospital. A doctor is trained
to assist a patient, not to liquidate him in the name of
mercy."
A senior geriatric expert in the Ministry of Health who
served as the director of the geriatric unit in Ichilov and
Assaf Harofe hospitals told Yated Ne'eman
unambiguously, "It's forbidden to do any action, active
or passive, if it shortens the life of the patient.
Detaching the patient from a respirator if it will cause his
death is not acceptable to us and I view it most gravely.
Shortening life is murder, whether it is active or passive."
He added, "Nevertheless, in my opinion, the matter is
presented in a distorted manner in the press. They only
present the other side, and so that is the view that is
legitimized. The repercussions on the public are not
mentioned, the view of Halacha is not heard, and the public
-- including doctors -- is unaware of the various
aspects."
Experts in ethics and halacha warn that the horror of the
slippery slope which they have warned against all along is
being realized in Israel. Dr. Menachem Breyer, the deputy
director of Maayanei Hayeshua hospital in Bnei Brak who is
an activist in the struggle against euthanasia, responded in
revulsion, "This is an extremely grave deterioration. They
present an active case of euthanasia as if it were a passive
action. All the halachic poskim fiercely oppose this
and it's a shame that doctors are involved with it. Every
time they invade a different area. Today they detach you
from a respirator. The next step will be giving a poisonous
injection -- G-d forbid -- to shorten a patient's life. We
check every patient who comes to us, we consult together
with the rabbis in the hospital to see what's permitted and
what's forbidden. But there, with a wave of the hand, a
patient is detached from a respirator and murdered."
Dr. Breyer added, "Many citizens who are not observant
nevertheless emphatically oppose euthanasia. The same
leftist clique that shows contempt for human life is
involved in all these court decisions. They push their
agenda in small, gradual dosages so that the public won't
rise up in mutiny against them. This is a slippery slope if
ever there was!"
UTJ MK Rabbi Avrohom Ravitz responded sharply against the
judge's decision and said to our reporter that this decision
runs against the law. In his opinion, the judge should go to
prison for permitting the murder. Rabbi Ravitz mentioned the
proposal of Meretz MK Anat Maor on the subject of
euthanasia, which is awaiting its second and third
readings.
The proposed law doesn't even deal with active human
intervention to end a life, but with passive intervention
only, and only in certain circumstances. This bill is being
held back at the request of the Health Ministry, after Rabbi
Ravitz had asked Health Minister Nissim Dehan for the delay.
The reason for the delay is to check if its clauses are
compatible with halacha, and to ensure that irresponsible
judges will not be able to give a wide interpretation to the
law and apply it also to cases which lack justification.
There is concern that the courts will apply the law to allow
active intervention to terminate life, as happened in this
very case.
Rabbi Ravitz accused the judge of reaching a decision which
contravenes Israeli law and assisting a murder, for which he
should be tried in court. "It's untenable to permit a man to
determine how long he'll live and to determine whether to
push off his execution for a few days or not because of a
family celebration. This is not Holland or Norway," said
Rabbi Ravitz. He added that such judges are the cause of
opposition to every law on the subject of euthanasia even
laws of limited scope which don't negate halacha, because of
the danger that the judges will widen the law to include
cases and actions which are not even sanctioned in the
law.
UTJ MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni told our reporter that bluntly,
murder was carried out. The judge decided against the law
which forbids murder. Until this decision, it was plain to
everyone that murder is murder, no matter how it is done,
but now utilitarian motives are being entered into whether
an act of terminating life is murder or not. Today the
problem is the suffering of the patient or his family, and
tomorrow it will be an economic or social motive. In fact,
every person can demand that his life be ended for
utilitarian motives. The judge's decision has broken the dam
and may bring on a flood of reckless murders which had been
forbidden until now. Suicides were prevented in the past by
law but now there will be no reason to stop a suicide in
process.
Rabbi Gafni emphasized that Judaism deems the sanctity of
life a supreme value, and we violate Shabbos and Yom Kippur
even for a doubt involving pikuach nefesh. Saving a
life is the highest value -- but now it has been trampled by
an Israeli judge. Until today, no person imagined that
actions to terminate life would be permitted. All doctors
swear to save life and not to terminate it.
Rabbi Gafni is concerned that after this decision was issued
and the murder carried out with the permission of the law,
many other cases will follow in which the principle motive
will be the family or the patient's convenience. He shudders
to think that motive will determine whether to terminate a
human life or not.
