[Avodah] assisted suicide

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

I wrote:
> In contrast, when one does an act, he is essentially forcing
> Hashem's hand, because Hashem's only choices will be between
> having the person die, or doing a miracle of some sort.

R' Joel Rich asked:
> Any more "miraculous" then someone dieing earlier than he
> should have due to prayer?  What if the physician set a
> machine in motion that had a 50/50 chance of killing the
> patient and said now it's up to Hashem?

I don't understand that question. A person's death is *always* in Hashem's ability. If the physician sets up a 50/50 machine, that doesn't really change much at all (except our ability to call the physician "reckless"). My point is that when a person does a real act (like turning off a respirator, or some violence with a weapon) that pretty much *forces* Hashem to have the person die.

Akiva Miller
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