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1 SuMMaRy and Conclusions 8 it was never proven that the milk of a female donkey is beneficial to
1. It is permissible to give a premature baby a remedy made from
pig lung tissue, due to all of the afore-mentioned reasons.
2. It is permissible to transplant a pig valve into a cardiac patient.
3. It is proper not to tell a patient that a pig valve was transplanted
into his heart.
4. If a dangerously ill patient requires medication that some
poskim prohibit, it is permissible to conceal the composition of
the medication from him.
230 1 Medical-HalacHic Responsa of Rav ZilbeRstein
those suffering from it. Likewise, in our case, since it has not defini-
tively been shown that pig meat is beneficial in healing tuberculosis,
it is prohibited to eat it.
Now we can answer our question.
It seems to me that it is permissible to use the surfactant for pre-
mature babies who need it. This is also a mitzvah, and one need not be
concerned about the prohibitions of eating pig. Here are the reasons
and the sources:
1. If one inhales a prohibited food through his nostrils, even a
food from which it is prohibited to benefit, he is not violating
a Torah prohibition, since this is not the normal way of con-
suming the food. This is explained in Halachos Ketanos (Vol. 1
#35) and cited in Be’er Heitev (Yoreh De’ah #84:37) and in Gilyon
Maharsha (ibid). In our case, if the surfactant is inhaled through
the nostrils, there is no Torah prohibition involved.
2. The material derived from pig lungs has no taste and is disqual-
ified from being a food. Therefore, one can ingest it as a remedy,
as explained in the Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh De’ah #84:17). The
Achiezer (Vol. 3 #31) also permits a patient to eat the blood of
an animal from which one of the ingredients was chemically
removed, because this nullifies the blood and it becomes like
dust. Even if it is nullified from human consumption alone, the
prohibition disappears, as explained in Chavas Da’as (Yoreh
De’ah #103).
3. According to the Shulchan Aruch Harav (Orach Chaim #450:25-
26) it is permissible to feed a sick child chametz on Pesach even
if he is not dangerously ill, if there is no other option. The same
applies to other Torah prohibitions.
4. A premature baby is considered to be in a situation of pikuach
nefesh and, all the more so, if his breathing is labored. Therefore,
it is permitted to feed him prohibited foods in order to save his
life.
5. Since the substance above does not enter the esophagus, but
Medications and Heart Valves from Pigs 2 223