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2. If a physician knows such a young man who is preparing for well. This is alluded to in Tractate Kiddushin (2b) where it says: It is
marriage, is he obligated to warn the bride of this possibility? the way of a man to go looking for his wife as he would go looking for
his lost object.
1 AnsweR However, so long as she does not know if the story is true, we can
suspect that the man is involved in crime and seeking to hide his ac-
A person ill with a difficult disease must inform any woman who tions from his wife or his employer or from the police. So long as this
might become his wife, so that he not violate prohibitions between is a possibility, the nurse should not assist him in any way, because
man and man or between man and G-d. she, too, may be punished for aiding a criminal.

1. Between man and man: The Torah says: “One shall not wrong In regard to our case, it seems that if the woman is suffering, and
his fellow” (Vayikra 25:17). The Kiryas Sefer (Hilchos Mechirah she knows for certain that her husband is mentally ill, the doctor
18) rules that just as there is a Torah prohibition to deceive cannot refuse to examine her husband. For example, she can tell her
someone in buying and selling, so, too, there is a Torah prohi- husband that the psychiatrist is an internist, so that while presumably
bition of deception in other matters. According to his words, taking his blood pressure and checking his lungs, the physician will
this includes deception in shidduchim. If the patient does not engage him in conversation and determine whether his mental im-
reveal his serious illness to a potential spouse, he is deceiving his balance is severe enough to justify asking for a divorce. The physician
fellowman and hurting him. is not permitted by halacha to claim that since the examination will

2. Between man and G-d: If a woman marries a man with a seri- benefit the patient’s wife rather than the patient himself, he is there-
ous illness of which she is unaware, their marriage is considered fore exempt from carrying it out. He must use his medical knowledge
a mistaken transaction and is null and void (if the illness is seri- to help those who need him. [The only exception would be if doing
ous enough to warrant her seeking a divorce). It then turns out the examination would cause him to lose his livelihood, in which case
that the man is living with a woman without proper kiddushin, his life takes priority.]
and that the blessings recited at the wedding and the seven days If the physician swore not to get involved in anything which is not
of celebration are all blessings for naught. These are all serious beneficial to the patient, one has to consider whether or not his oath
sins between man and G-d.
nullifies a mitzvah. It is explained in the Rama (Yoreh De’ah 239:7),
If the physician in our case does not inform the patient of the that if one swears not to reveal to his friend something which could
danger, the patient does not violate “Do not wrong your fellowman,” save him from a loss, he is swearing to nullify a mitzvah, and his oath
because he himself was unaware and innocently married a woman. is not valid. However, one can reject this approach based on the Sefer
He does, however, violate the second prohibition, since, in the final Atzei Levonah (ibid), who writes that testifying in beis din is a mitzvah
analysis, he is living with a single woman without proper kiddushin. clearly delineated in the Torah (“If he does not tell, he bears his sin”),
It’s possible that he does not even violate that prohibition of, based while saving his friend from a trap being laid for him is not clearly
on the words of Maharshag (Vol. 3 #65), who writes: Even if we rule delineated in the Torah but based on our Sages’ interpretation of the
(Even Ha’ezer 67:5) that if a man marries a woman on the presump- verse. Furthermore, since the physician swears in a general way that
tion that she is a virgin and it turns out she was not, the transaction is he will care for all his patients, and the oath includes things which are
a mistake and the marriage is null and void, and she leaves him with- permitted by the Torah, the entire oath is valid. In light of this, the

46 1 Medical-HalacHic Responsa of Rav ZilbeRstein Groom Sufers from Mental Illness 2 23

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