Page 157 - EFI-RAV ZILBERSTIN_VOL 8.EFI-RAV ZILBERSTIN_VOL 8.1A

Pg: 157 - 5-Front 21-10-31

to her husband according to the prevailing custom. This will apply
in our case too. A woman is only under obligation to her husband
according to what is customary and if he demands more than that
from her, she is under no obligation to provide it. It is nevertheless
impossible to give her control of her husband’s treatment for we must
be concerned that she may give him a double dose, or if she is angry at
him she may give him even more.



Administering Medication for a Nervous

Breakdown without the Patient’s Knowledge

Question: In light of the above discussion, is a woman whose husband
has had a nervous breakdown and refuses to take medication allowed
to give him the medication in his food without his knowledge?

Response: A person who has suffered a nervous breakdown is
considered sick [perhaps even dangerously so] and every person is
obligated to heal him, all the more so his wife. Therefore, if the only
way the physician can find to heal him is through his wife, she should
do so1. This differs from the above case where the husband is not
considered sick and no one is licensed to administer medication to
him without his consent. That woman should therefore be advised
to approach a scholar to talk to her husband gently and convince him
to take a spiritual remedy such as studying works of mussar, as stated
in Shulchan Aruch, (Orach Chaim 240:1),“A person possesses a small
organ which if he starves it, it is satisfied but if he satiates it, it is

1. We have already explained a length, earlier in simanim 180-1, that we compel a
patient to be healed.

Treating Heightened Desire 2 141