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months] who is suffering terribly and prayers for whose death should
be offered, as is clear from the Ran (Nedarim 40a).4 It is possible that
a non-Jew is not forbidden to kill such an individual. Obviously, if
a person is afraid of being caught by his enemies he should pray to
be rescued not to die, therefore the author of Hakesav Vehakabalah
forbids killing him.

The Mordechai draws a similar distinction (Beitzah 2,683), in order
to answer the following question. Why do Chazal forbid putting out
a fire on Shabbos which is consuming a person’s belongings, despite
the fact that he has no interest in extinguishing the fire per se [i.e. just
in preventing further damage to his property, which renders the act
less stringent] and his distress is great, when by contrast they permit
lancing an abscess on Shabbos for the very reason that he has no in-
terest in the forbidden melachah of creating an opening [i.e. just in re-
lieving his pain] and they do not enforce their decree forbidding such
melachah in a situation of pain? The question arises, is the distress of
losing one’s property in a fire less than the distress of an abscess? The
Mordechai answers that in regard to the fire a person can overcome
his distress through his belief and his trust that Hashem yisbarach
will somehow return the property he has lost in the fire. By contrast,
the pain of an abscess is physical pain, which cannot be soothed,
therefore Chazal permit performing a melachah that is essentially
not needed.

To summarize: It is possible that it is not forbidden to carry out
the “mercy killing” of a terminal non-Jewish patient who is suffering
terribly and who has asked that this be done. This only applies to
a non-Jew, whose Seven Noahide mitzvos are to secure the world’s
population against devastation. This is not the case for a Jewish pa-
tient. Heaven forbid that he be put to death by euthanasia for this
violates, “Do not murder,” for even touching a gosses [a patient in his

4. The topic of caring for a terminal patient who is suffering is explained at length
in simanim 189-92.

450 1 Medical-Halachic Responsa of Rav Zilberstein