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further damage, for the physician too has said that refraining from
drinking is liable to damage the kidneys9.
The above notwithstanding, were it certain that refraining from
drinking would not harm the patient we would advise him to bear
the pain and refrain from drinking, rather than place his life in dan-
ger. However, we should not protest if he wants to drink because the
suffering is very severe.
Some degree of support for allowing the patient to drink can be
adduced from the gemara in Gittin (69b) where a remedy for an
illness known as barsam is described and the gemara concludes by
saying that “however far it is possible he should not eat it, because
of dislocation,” meaning that if the patient can restrain himself he
should not consume this remedy because it dislocates his limbs. This
dislocation apparently constitutes danger to life, yet if the patient
cannot restrain himself he should consume the remedy nevertheless.
It is possible that even though the patient will not be punished [for
harming himself ] if he drinks water, it will be forbidden for another
person to hand it to him if it is clear that drinking is harmful for him,
because although the patient himself is an annus the other person is
not.10
It also appears that it will be forbidden for the patient to steal wa-
ter from another person in order to quench his thirst. Even though
Tosfos permits stealing from another person in a situation of piku’ach
nefesh, if the patient is only an annus, in the absence of piku’ach nefesh
this permit does not apply.
9. See earlier, siman 199, for an alternative understanding of the Mor Uketziah’s
comments.
10. If though drinking will not endanger his life, see the views of the poskim earlier,
siman 281.
390 1 Medical-Halachic Responsa of Rav Zilberstein
