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reality is that this claim is not accurate. The physician is paid by
the clinic and not the patients.
3. The honorable Rav’s words require the physician to conjecture
whether his patient is a “person of means.” Is it the physician’s
job to determine whether the patient has means to pay for the TRANSFERRING HIS WIFE
procedure or not? (And our nation is filled with righteous peo- 87 FROM ONE HOSPITAL TO
ple, whose money is more dear to them than their body….) ANOTHER, AGAINST HER
4. The honorable Rav ruled on a similar case during one of the re- WISHES
cent discourses. The shiur discussed the permissibility of alter-
ing information in a report to the clinic in order to receive their
authorization of a drug for a dangerously ill patient. There, the
Rav ruled that “it is forbidden to report something inaccurate,
although the physician has good intentions… the physician 1 Question TRansfeRRing his Wife Against HeR Wishes
cannot rule for himself, and it is forbidden to alter the facts in
order to get funding from the clinic… but the patient is allowed There was a young woman who had a heart attack (at the end of shivah
to sue the clinic.” for her father) and was hospitalized in Hospital A. As a result of the
heart attack, she developed a cerebral gangrene causing paralysis of
(In this case, the clinic would not authorize the drug because it half her body, and the loss of her ability to speak. After her recovery,
is not certain that the drug will help cure the disease. Clearly, she was sent to Hospital B for rehabilitation. There she suffered from
however, the refusal to authorize it also stems from economic chest pain again, and a cardiologist tested her with an electrocardio-
considerations: there is another, cheaper, drug available to treat gram (EKG) and decided that her condition was stable. Her husband
disease. If it was truly unproven that the drug could cure this took the EKG to Hospital A, and the physician there determined that
disease, and the drug was not authorized by the Health Minis- her condition would soon deteriorate, and she should be transferred
try, then it would be absolutely illegal to use it and the question to his care. The woman indicated with her head that she was opposed
would not exist.) to this, but her husband transferred her to Hospital A against her
wishes. (A few days later she was transferred back to Hospital B.)
If so, my question is, why in the case of the echocardiogram
should the physician not abide by the decision of the clinic? If My questions are:
the clinic refuses to repeat the test in the hospital, the patient 1. Did the husband follow halacha when he moved his sick wife to
can sue them in a din Torah. Hospital A against her wishes?
Dr. Chovav 2. If the answer is negative, should the police have been summoned
Head of Department of Gynecology, to prevent the transfer?
Bikur Cholim Hospital Dr. Moshe Elyakim Brooks
Specialist in physical therapy and rehabilitation,
I would answer your questions as follows, be’siyatta dishmaya: Tel Hashomer Hospital
160 1 Medical-HalacHic Responsa of Rav ZilbeRstein Transferring his Wife Against Her Wishes 2 165
