[Avodah] assisted suicide

[Michael Makovi]

> I recall seeing in Generation to Generation by R' Dr. Twerski that his
> father refused medical treatment that might have prolonged his life a bit.
> Where would that come in the equation? (The obvious difference is that it's
> Shev V'al Taaseh.)
>
> KT,
> MYG

Do a search on Aish.com for Terry Schiavo, and you'll find several
articles by an MD on the halachot of ending a life.

One of the distinctions is between a terminal illness and a terminally
debilitating illness. In the former, the illness itself kills, such as
Alzheimer's in the very final stage. In the latter, the person is
completely stable and could live a normal lifespan; for example,
Schiavo.

In a terminal illness, a person can refuse treatment if it will
prolong suffering with little chance of helping or curing. But in a
terminally debilitating illness, the only way to kill the person is by
cutting food or such, because the illness itself will not kill the
person (and there's no treatment whose denial wil cause death).

Mikha'el Makovi