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rector of the Maayanei Hayeshua Hospital in Bnei Brak, and he It is correct that he make every effort to perform mitzvos of the #
answered as follows: same sort, such as:
To the honorable Rav… shlita: 1. Not to shame a person, which is equivalent to killing him.
I want to bring two arguments against continually calling for an 2. If he is able to procreate, he should not refrain from doing so, as
ambulance in the case of the man’s constant false complaints: this is like spilling blood
Magen David Adom has a limited number of ambulances it will
pay for per area, and an even more limited number of emergency ve- 3. To raise an orphan in his home.
hicles with a paramedic and resuscitative equipment included, as well 4. To support those who learn Torah, as it says (Mishlei 20:27):
as vehicles that have a physician attached to them. Repeated calls for “The light of Hashem is the soul of man,” and “A mitzvah is a
an ambulance from one person will cause the emergency-equipped candle and Torah is light.”
ambulances not to be available when urgently needed for true emer- He should do all this according to his abilities and his situation, and
gencies such as heart attacks. This certainly endangers the lives of his heart should rejoice to fulfill mitzvos of Hashem.
patients who urgently need immediate emergency care. In short, the Chelkas Yaakov rules leniently on this man, who out
The multitude of false complaints by one person dulls the alacrity of forgetfulness did not rescue his brother. He instructs him to re-
and devotion of the life-saving paramedics and delays their arrival on lease himself from his guilt and to be careful with the aforementioned
the scene of a true emergency. It can cause a disregard for the concept four things as an atonement. The same may apply in our case. The
of pikuach nefesh. physician should try to be careful with the above four things and this 20818_efi-ab - 20818_efi-ab | 6 - B | 18-08-20 | 13:29:02 | SR:-- | Magenta #20818_efi-ab - 20818_efi-ab | 6 - B | 18-08-20 | 13:29:02 | SR:-- | Yellow 20818_efi-ab - 20818_efi-ab | 6 - B | 18-08-20 | 13:29:02 | SR:-- | Black
I saw a similar case discussed in Sefer Chut Shani by Rav N. Kare- will be an atonement for him. 20818_efi-ab - 20818_efi-ab | 6 - B | 18-08-20 | 13:29:02 | SR:-- | Cyan
litz shlita (Part 4, Ch. 89, p. 157, in Shaar Haziyun). There it says:
“One should minimize the amount of unessential tasks placed on 1 SuMMaRy and Conclusions
people who are in charge of attending to emergencies, such as phy-
sicians, ambulance drivers or firemen, even on Shabbos, so that they If the physician did not question the patient to see if he was in danger,
are available to save lives, and so that they not come to disregard the he did not do his job faithfully and requires repentance and atone-
importance of saving life.” He also adds that “If the firemen were sum- ment. Nonetheless we can be lenient in regard to his teshuvah, and
moned to put out a fire on Shabbos and the fire extinguished itself, it follow the instructions of the Chelkas Yaakov.
is permissible on Shabbos to call the ambulance or fire stations to tell 
them that there is no need for them to come. The reason is that if they
show up and see that there was no need for them to come, it might
lead to disregard for situations of pikuach nefesh. [The call] might also A physician did not convince a cardiac patient
reduce the desecration of Shabbos. to go to the hospital by ambulance, and the patient
died on the way to his car.
“Once, on Shabbos, a man was sitting with his son in the pediatric
unit, and the IV ran out. The instrument began beeping and there 1 Question
was no gentile available [to shut it off]. Rav Karelitz ruled that the
father himself could turn off the beeping instrument on Shabbos A healthy man, about 50 years of age, saw a physician with his wife.
because there are other cases of pikuach nefesh, and the beeping can He related that the previous day he had felt pressure in his chest for

172 1 Medical-HalacHic Responsa of Rav ZilbeRstein Physician did not respond and patient died 2 169