[Avodah] Murder?

[Micha Berger]

On Mon, Nov 15, 2010 at 04:37:00PM -0800, Harry Maryles wrote:
: Let me pose some other ethical -- and even Halachic questions. Let us
: say that someone needs a kidney. Let us further assume that his prognosis
: is death without a transplant.
: Let us then say that he knows of someone who is a compapitable donor
: that can donate one of his kidneys and save his life.

: But the potential donor refuses to put himself under the knife since
: there is a minimal risk of death...

See http://www.koltorah.org/ravj/Live_Organ_Donations_1.html
R Chaim Jachter discusses a machloqes between the BY where he writes
that one must assume risk to save someone from certain death. and the SA
where the omits it (CM 426). The Sema says this is because the ruling
would be against all three of the Rif, the Rambam and the Rosh. Which
in turn comes from a machloqes between the Y-mi (and the BY's source)
and the Bavli (which is presumably the Rif, Rambam and Rosh's).

But even without risk to life:

The Radvaz (shu"t #627) writes that one is no obligated to sacrifice a
limb to save another. "Derkhahe darkhei noam). And this is the Shach,
the Pischei Teshuvah, the IM (YD 2:174:4) and the Tzitz Eliezer.

WRT nidon didan in particular RCJ writes:
    Dayan Weisz (Teshuvot Minchat Yitzchak 6:103) in 1961 ruled that it
    was forbidden to donate a kidney due to the significant risk of death
    involved in the procedure and due to concern for future need of the
    donated kidney. However, in an undated Teshuvah (written after 1961
    but before 1980; it seems to have been written during the 1970's)
    Rav Eliezer Waldenberg (Teshuvot Tzitz Eliezer 9:45) while initially
    agreeing with Dayan Weisz, proceeds to modify his stance and considers
    permitting a live kidney donation if "a team of specialists decides
    after a rigorous examination that the donation does not involve
    risk to the donor." He concludes, nonetheless, "Kuli Hai VeUlai,"
    even after all efforts are exerted, the doubt remains unresolved.

    Rav Ovadia Yosef, however, writes in a Teshuvah published in 1980
    (ad. loc.) that Torah observant specialists have informed him
    that the risk involved in kidney donation is very slight and that
    ninety nine percent of donors return to full health. Based on this
    information, Rav Ovadia Yosef rules "it is certainly a Mitzvah to
    donate [a kidney] to save his fellow from certain death." We should
    note that Rav Yosef does not state that it is an obligatory to make
    such a donation. This seems due to the ruling of the aforementioned
    Radbaz that the Torah does not oblige one to give up a limb even in
    order to save another's life.

...
: What recipient were your child?

When people are nog'im bedavar and their emotions will crowd their
judgment, they are even less capable of pasqening for themselves,
not more.

: What about buying a Kidney even though it is against the policy of UNOS
: (United Network for Organ Sharing). They believe that money should never
: be a factor when deciding who is the recipient of a donated organ. They
: say it is unethical and recipients should be prioritized based on
: medical need.

Medical need and likelihood of success. People who don't follow
pre-op instructions are presumed to be less likely to put in the
effort necesssary for success afterward, and are bumped down in
priority. Similarly, an elderly person with a very present family as a
support system would be ahead on line of their counterpart who doesn't.
(I often get a lift into the city for my morning commute with someone
on a lung and heart transplant panel. She gives her poseiq a run for
his money...)

A question is also (and this is more halachically significant) whether
more lives are risked overall if one lets individual recipients to
buy their way to the head of the line. That goes beyond the ethics of
penalizing someone too much for their poverty.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             A pious Jew is not one who worries about his fellow
micha at aishdas.org        man's soul and his own stomach; a pious Jew worries
http://www.aishdas.org   about his own soul and his fellow man's stomach.
Fax: (270) 514-1507                       - Rav Yisrael Salanter