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injured the bladder did not save the mother’s life, and for that he is 2 1 AnsweR
held accountable in Heaven.
As mentioned above, a physician who heals and errs but with the per-
mission of a beis din is exempt from punishment in a human court but
1 SuMMaRy and Conclusions is held accountable in the Heavenly Court. The Aruch Hashulchan

writes that nowadays a physician has to be licensed by the government
1. If a physician who is licensed by a beis din and receives a salary to practice medicine. It seems that what is referred to as “permission
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for his work made a mistake and damaged the patient, he is from a beis din” does not necessarily refer to the local beis din but to
exempt from payment in a human court on the basis of a decree any beis din that examined his credentials and then licensed him as a
enacted by Chazal, but he is guilty by the laws of Heaven. physician to practice medicine. If this licensed physician then erred

2. There is room to question whether or not an eye doctor is in- and unintentionally caused damage, he is exempt in a human court
cluded in the Rabbinic decree, since he does not really heal but but held accountable in the Heavenly Court.
rather measures and prescribes lenses so that his clients can see However, in our case, I think that he is obligated to pay, since
better. he gave salts to a patient with kidney disease without notifying his

3. If an eye doctor is included in the decree, even if he errs in his doctor. By doing so he committed a crime according to conventional
refraction measurements, in our case he is exempt also by the medicine. He, the naturopath, should have informed the patient’s
laws of Heaven, for two reasons: physician or consulted with other physicians. (The Tashbetz (Part 3
#82) writes that a physician should not speak in front of another phy-
a. According to the Tashbetz, as long as he wounded a per- sician who is more knowledgeable than he, as is the law for a judge,
son’s body neither with an iron utensil nor with his hands, and he should not rely on his experience.) Only in cases where natu-
he is exempt by the laws of Heaven. ropathic medicine does no harm according to conventional medicine
b. According to our differentiation between a physician and is the naturopath allowed to do as he pleases. If several conventional
a judge, since he did not wound the body of the patient physicians opine that some remedy is harmful, the naturopath must
whose eyes he tested, he is also exempt by the laws of consult with others. This is no different from administering any con-
Heaven. According to Rav Chaim Kanievsky’s assertion troversial conventional medicine, where one must consult with others
that a judge’s word is always Torah, the physician may be before administering. If he did not consult, he is a criminal, and is
held accountable by Heaven. obligated to pay for damages he caused.

4. If an eye doctor is not included in the Rabbinic decree for physi- Consultation with others and unity can bring about great advances
cians, he should be obligated to pay for any errors he makes, just in the field of medicine, as explained in the book Shiurei Daas (Part
like an expert ritual slaughterer and an expert moneychanger 3, p. 56), written by Rabbi Y. L. Bloch, Rosh Yeshiva and Av Beis Din
who erred when they received payment for their services. of the Telz Yeshiva in Cleveland, Ohio. He writes:
5. According to the Imrei Binah, in a case where the physician re- “And the whole earth was of one language and of one
ceives a fixed salary and is not paid per case, it is possible that, speech” (Bereishis 11:1). The people of that generation knew
like a judge, he is exempt from payment for an error, even by the the mighty power of unity and thought that with unity
laws of Heaven. they could discover solutions to plagues and illnesses of

58 1 Medical-HalacHic Responsa of Rav ZilbeRstein Alternative healer 2 27

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