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286: AUTHORIZING
EUTHANASIA AND
ABORTION FOR NON-
JEWISH PATIENTS

ɳ Question

1. There was a case involving a non-Jewish cancer patient who was
hospitalized overseas and was suffering terribly. He and his family re-
quested that he be put to death – euthanasia. However, according to
the law of the land this required the approval of the hospital’s director.
The director is a Torah-observant Jew and is uncertain whether the
Torah allows him to authorize it. It should be added that if he refuses
to authorize on the grounds of Jewish religious law, he will clearly be
dismissed from his position.

2. The law in that land forbids the performance of abortion unless
it is carried out under certain conditions and is authorized by the
hospital director. Here too, the Jewish director is unsure whether or
not halachah allows this, and if it is forbidden, whether he should
, even though it is clear to him that he will be dismissed from his
position when they realize that his refusal arises from considerations
of Jewish religious law.

ɳ Response to Question One1

This question can be subdivided into two parts:

1. The first question was put to the gaon, Rav Moshe Sternbuch shlit”a, as an in-

Enabling a Non-Jew to Commit Suicide 2 445