Brian Murphy, the Associated Press Religion Writer, has put together an interesting article on the Halachic (Jewish law) issues that surround decisions on the future medical treatment of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon who recently suffered a massive stroke. Even though Sharon led a secular lifestyle, his treatment is likely to become involved in religious disputation.
Jewish law forbids doing anything to hasten death, but it is permissible to remove an "impediment" standing in the way of the natural end of life. Rabbis remain divided over what constitutes an unreasonable obstacle to death. Murphy speculates that any need for life-sustaining equipment could open the kind of religious showdowns in Israel that gripped the United States last year over Terri Schiavo, the Florida woman who died her feeding tube was finally removed.
There are also disagreements among rabbis on how Jewish law defines death. In 1986, Israel's Chief Rabbinate ruled that brain death controlled, but some other rabbis take the position that death occurs only when there is both no respiration and no "movement" in the body. They consider a heartbeat to be movement, even if maintained through life-support. After six years of debate, last month the Israeli Knesset finally passed legislation allowing terminally ill patients to refuse life support. But the law contains an unusual provision: the equipment can only be turned off by an automatic timer to avoid having a health care worker do it. The law has not yet gone into effect.
