[Avodah] Social responsibility, halacha and psak

[Meir Shinnar]

>
> FWIW, one can certainly find many discussions and teshuvos as to  
> what a
> prospective medical student , intern, resident or attending  
> physician can or
> should do, ranging from going for the best residency without any  
> concern about
> Shabbos to considering only Shomer Shabbos residencies among Poskim.
>
> Yet, one wonders why one cannot simply go for the branches of  
> medicine that
> offer the best of both worlds, namly a superb medical training  
> without having
> to  be Mchallel Shabbos or entering into the huge safek of Hutra/ 
> Dchuyah.
One can, of course, also be a lawyer or accountant.  There are  
medical specialties with little chance of being called on shabbat.   
The issue is whether saving lives has any halachic merit - and  
whether we think there should be Orthodox doctors.

WRT to shomer shabbat residencies - it should be understood that in  
general, with the possible exception of Einstein, most programs do  
not offer shomer shabbat programs because they want to enable Jews to  
keep shabbat - they offer them because they realize they can get a  
far higher caliber of resident than they would otherwise get - and  
conversely, the residents end up getting a far lower level of medical  
education than they could otherwise have gotten (residency is where  
one really learns the medicine - and there is a great difference  
depending on the program..)
Meir Shinnar