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**Schiavo death was ‘murder,’ rabbi says **
**By JANICE ARNOLD ***Staff Reporter *
The court-ordered removal of Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube was “an act of murder,” in the opinion of Rabbi Shlomo Yaffe, a member of the Lubavitch movement who spoke recently to a Montreal audience made up largely of lawyers.
Rabbi Yaffe, spiritual leader of Congregation Agudas Achim in West Hartford, Conn., and a popular lecturer on the Torah perspective on modern ethical issues, was a guest speaker at the Westmount Chabad centre.
The fact that Schiavo, who died in March almost two weeks after her gastric feeding tube was removed, was breathing on her own makes all the difference, Rabbi Yaffe said. Jewish tradition makes clear that nourishment must be provided under such a circumstance, even if the person has no chance of recovery or has severe brain damage, like the Florida woman.
The Talmud, he said, places the same value on the life of an 80-year-old comatose person as that of a healthy 20-year-old.
That these precepts were formulated thousands of years ago before technology spawned unforeseen ethical dilemmas in medicine is “totally irrelevant,” said Rabbi Yaffe. The themes and concepts of Judaism are as valid today as ever, he argued.
First of all, he said it should be remembered that those responsible for a gravely ill or incapacitated loved one are under tremendous stress. “It can become extremely seductive to create a narrative that accelerating that person’s demise is for their sake,” he said.
Judaism teaches that we don’t own our own lives and that our body is not our property, but is entrusted to us by God, and therefore we cannot destroy it, he said.
The Talmud forbids hastening death. “You are not even to close the person’s eyes before they have drawn their last breath,” he said.
“At the same time, you are not obliged to impede the dying process,” where there is “no chance of some semblance of functionality or relief of pain or suffering,” by, for example. placing the person on a respirator or trying experimental surgery.
That, however, does not extend to nourishment, which traditional Judaism views as providing the basic necessity of life.
“The fact that there was no tube-feeding in biblical times is irrelevant. We are obliged to feed those who are respirating autonomously,” Rabbi Yaffe said.
“We are obliged to provide nutrition. It’s an absolute right, and to remove it is extraordinarily problematic, just as removing a respirator is. You are literally taking life away.”
That remains true even if the person is in a persistent vegetative state, or brain dead, the rabbi said.
The only exception are those cases where feeding would “poison the system,” and then feeding must be stopped because it would only extend suffering, he added.
Rabbi Yaffe acknowledged there are differences of opinion among chassidic rabbis on what constitutes brain death, and whether it means cessation of brain-stem activity.
“The reality is it’s usually not that simple. If there is no autonomous respiration. we are probably not obliged to put the machine back on. It’s case by case. Every situation is a bit different.”
He stressed that Judaism holds that we cannot assign a value to any human life. “Does the life of a person in a vegetative state have value? Does a child with Down syndrome have value? It’s a slippery slope when we decide whose life has value.”
As recently as the 1950s, it was not uncommon for doctors to starve an extremely retarded newborn, a practice that we now are horrified by, he said.
“In Jewish law, a human life has an absolute value. Every human being is admitted to the bar of importance. Jewish law does not recognize subjective human criteria for the value of human life. Pain and suffering are part of life. “If God chooses to place a soul in a body, then God is saying this person’s life has value. That we cannot see that is our limitation. We must treasure every life and not base its value on the person’s utility.”
cjnews.com/viewarticle.asp?id=6737
**By JANICE ARNOLD ***Staff Reporter *
The court-ordered removal of Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube was “an act of murder,” in the opinion of Rabbi Shlomo Yaffe, a member of the Lubavitch movement who spoke recently to a Montreal audience made up largely of lawyers.
Rabbi Yaffe, spiritual leader of Congregation Agudas Achim in West Hartford, Conn., and a popular lecturer on the Torah perspective on modern ethical issues, was a guest speaker at the Westmount Chabad centre.
The fact that Schiavo, who died in March almost two weeks after her gastric feeding tube was removed, was breathing on her own makes all the difference, Rabbi Yaffe said. Jewish tradition makes clear that nourishment must be provided under such a circumstance, even if the person has no chance of recovery or has severe brain damage, like the Florida woman.
The Talmud, he said, places the same value on the life of an 80-year-old comatose person as that of a healthy 20-year-old.
That these precepts were formulated thousands of years ago before technology spawned unforeseen ethical dilemmas in medicine is “totally irrelevant,” said Rabbi Yaffe. The themes and concepts of Judaism are as valid today as ever, he argued.
First of all, he said it should be remembered that those responsible for a gravely ill or incapacitated loved one are under tremendous stress. “It can become extremely seductive to create a narrative that accelerating that person’s demise is for their sake,” he said.
Judaism teaches that we don’t own our own lives and that our body is not our property, but is entrusted to us by God, and therefore we cannot destroy it, he said.
The Talmud forbids hastening death. “You are not even to close the person’s eyes before they have drawn their last breath,” he said.
“At the same time, you are not obliged to impede the dying process,” where there is “no chance of some semblance of functionality or relief of pain or suffering,” by, for example. placing the person on a respirator or trying experimental surgery.
That, however, does not extend to nourishment, which traditional Judaism views as providing the basic necessity of life.
“The fact that there was no tube-feeding in biblical times is irrelevant. We are obliged to feed those who are respirating autonomously,” Rabbi Yaffe said.
“We are obliged to provide nutrition. It’s an absolute right, and to remove it is extraordinarily problematic, just as removing a respirator is. You are literally taking life away.”
That remains true even if the person is in a persistent vegetative state, or brain dead, the rabbi said.
The only exception are those cases where feeding would “poison the system,” and then feeding must be stopped because it would only extend suffering, he added.
Rabbi Yaffe acknowledged there are differences of opinion among chassidic rabbis on what constitutes brain death, and whether it means cessation of brain-stem activity.
“The reality is it’s usually not that simple. If there is no autonomous respiration. we are probably not obliged to put the machine back on. It’s case by case. Every situation is a bit different.”
He stressed that Judaism holds that we cannot assign a value to any human life. “Does the life of a person in a vegetative state have value? Does a child with Down syndrome have value? It’s a slippery slope when we decide whose life has value.”
As recently as the 1950s, it was not uncommon for doctors to starve an extremely retarded newborn, a practice that we now are horrified by, he said.
“In Jewish law, a human life has an absolute value. Every human being is admitted to the bar of importance. Jewish law does not recognize subjective human criteria for the value of human life. Pain and suffering are part of life. “If God chooses to place a soul in a body, then God is saying this person’s life has value. That we cannot see that is our limitation. We must treasure every life and not base its value on the person’s utility.”
cjnews.com/viewarticle.asp?id=6737