Unwilling to accept over four years of Health Ministry delays, MK (Meretz) Chaim Oron is pushing ahead his private member’s bill to permit assisted euthanasia in Eretz Yisrael. The bill is modeled after a law that was adopted in the US state of Oregon, and later accepted in Washington State as well.
The bill calls to permit a terminally ill patient to end his own life after medical professionals explain the alternatives to the patient. The bill does not permit physician-assisted euthanasia as is the case in more liberal countries, but it opens a door to prematurely ending a life, taking a life halachic experts point out.
The bill enjoys support from some prominent members of the medical community, including Prof. Avinoam Reches, head of the Israel Medical Association’s ethics bureau and former Supreme Court Justice Eliyahu Matza.
Rabbi Prof. Avraham Steinberg, and internationally known expert on halacha & medical ethics and chairman of pediatric neurology at Shaare Zedek Medical Center, laments the private bill, explaining that while existing law perhaps requires some modification, it is in line with torah law while the private bill takes a broad step away from halachic acceptance.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
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2 Responses
The mayhem and advantage taking that will happen if people are allowed to do this are incalcuable.
This is bad. This is very bad.
“The bill is modeled after a law that was adopted in the US state of Oregon, and later accepted in Washington State as well.”
We are supposed to be a light unto the nations. We should be leading the way. Not following. And certainly not following down the WRONG path.
How many terminally ill with “no chance of survival” have had a “miraculous” recovery?
This bill cannot be allowed to pass.