[Avodah] what is death- what is life?

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

R' Chaim Manaster raised a hypothetical:

> What if we have a case of psik reisha that is breathing and
> whose heart is beating -- would all agree that this person is
> indeed dead?
>
> So for our hypothetical, we have a skilled medical team
> standing by at the guillotine for the execution of a prisoner,
> who immediately and before any serious loss of blood is allowed
> to happen attach the now open vascular system and trachea at the
> neck to a heart-lung machine specially designed for this purpose
> and treat the open wound to prevent infection. The now headless
> person is on "life support" and the body from the neck down
> survives the ravages of "death" and decay and continues its
> metabolic processes -- I assume this is possible and not too far
> beyond our current technology, though I am not really sure (can
> anyone with a medical degree venture an opinion if just basic
> tissue metabolism can actually continue under these conditions
> -- simple tissue and cells clearly can do this in a petri dish
> so why not our hypothetical?). I imagine we would also have to
> feed him intravenously etc.
>
> Would anyone still consider this person (body?) alive, or would
> all agree he is dead? Did Chazal mean even this case too?

Short answer: As I understand it, Rav Moshe Feinstein would hold that person to be dead.

Long answer: Your case seems (to me) to be similar to the case mentioned in Igros Moshe, Yoreh Deah 2, Siman 174, bottom right paragraph on page 288:

<<< If a person's head was cut off, even though the head and body are spasming, he has the din of 'meis mamash'. And even if there would be a way to connect the head to the body so that he would live, there is no chiyuv to do so even during the week, because there is no chiyuv to revive the dead, so on Shabbos it would be assur. See Bava Basra 74, where R' Yehuda says that a certain jewel exists which can revive the dead, even those who have been decapitated, but HaShem hid it from humanity; see there. It is pashut that even if HaShem would make it available to someone, he would not be chayav to revive the dead. The Torah only obligated us to heal the sick, and even to be mechalel Shabbos, but not to revive the dead. >>>

It seems like a simple kal vachomer to me: Suppose we had the technology to reattach the head of the person in RCM's case and bring him back to life. Rav Moshe says that even in such a case, the person was dead from the decapitation until the reattachment. If so, he is certainly dead in the case where they aren't even planning to reattach the head.

Akiva Miller

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