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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?
1 AnsweR
A person ill with a difficult disease must inform any woman who
might become his wife, so that he not violate prohibitions between
man and man or between man and G-d.
1. Between man and man: The Torah says: “One shall not wrong
his fellow” (Vayikra 25:17). The Kiryas Sefer (Hilchos Mechirah
18) rules that just as there is a Torah prohibition to deceive
someone in buying and selling, so, too, there is a Torah prohi-
bition of deception in other matters. According to his words,
this includes deception in shidduchim. If the patient does not
reveal his serious illness to a potential spouse, he is deceiving his
fellowman and hurting him.
2. Between man and G-d: If a woman marries a man with a seri-
ous illness of which she is unaware, their marriage is considered
a mistaken transaction and is null and void (if the illness is seri-
ous enough to warrant her seeking a divorce). It then turns out
that the man is living with a woman without proper kiddushin,
and that the blessings recited at the wedding and the seven days
of celebration are all blessings for naught. These are all serious
sins between man and G-d.
If the physician in our case does not inform the patient of the
danger, the patient does not violate “Do not wrong your fellowman,”
because he himself was unaware and innocently married a woman.
He does, however, violate the second prohibition, since, in the final
analysis, he is living with a single woman without proper kiddushin.
It’s possible that he does not even violate that prohibition of, based
on the words of Maharshag (Vol. 3 #65), who writes: Even if we rule
(Even Ha’ezer 67:5) that if a man marries a woman on the presump-
tion that she is a virgin and it turns out she was not, the transaction is
a mistake and the marriage is null and void, and she leaves him with-
46 1 Medical-HalacHic Responsa of Rav ZilbeRstein
2
the way of a man to go looking for his wife as he would go looking for
his lost object.
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-
tions from his wife or his employer or from the police. So long as this
is a possibility, the nurse should not assist him in any way, because
she, too, may be punished for aiding a criminal.
In regard to our case, it seems that if the woman is suffering, and
she knows for certain that her husband is mentally ill, the doctor
cannot refuse to examine her husband. For example, she can tell her
husband that the psychiatrist is an internist, so that while presumably
taking his blood pressure and checking his lungs, the physician will
engage him in conversation and determine whether his mental im-
balance is severe enough to justify asking for a divorce. The physician
is not permitted by halacha to claim that since the examination will
benefit the patient’s wife rather than the patient himself, he is there-
fore exempt from carrying it out. He must use his medical knowledge
to help those who need him. [The only exception would be if doing
the examination would cause him to lose his livelihood, in which case
his life takes priority.]
If the physician swore not to get involved in anything which is not
beneficial to the patient, one has to consider whether or not his oath
nullifies a mitzvah. It is explained in the Rama (Yoreh De’ah 239:7),
that if one swears not to reveal to his friend something which could
save him from a loss, he is swearing to nullify a mitzvah, and his oath
is not valid. However, one can reject this approach based on the Sefer
Atzei Levonah (ibid), who writes that testifying in beis din is a mitzvah
clearly delineated in the Torah (“If he does not tell, he bears his sin”),
while saving his friend from a trap being laid for him is not clearly
delineated in the Torah but based on our Sages’ interpretation of the
verse. Furthermore, since the physician swears in a general way that
he will care for all his patients, and the oath includes things which are
permitted by the Torah, the entire oath is valid. In light of this, the
Groom Sufers from Mental Illness 2 23
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