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Last update - 08:45 27/03/2008
Top rabbis: Harvesting organs of the brain dead is `bloodshed`
By Yair Ettinger and Yuval Azoulay, Haaretz Correspondents
Tags: Organ Donation, Ovadia Yosef 

Harvesting the organs of a patient who has been declared brain-dead but whose heart has not stopped is "shedding of blood" according to a statement released Wednesday by ultra-Orthodox Ashkenazi rabbis.

The statement came in response to the law passed by the Knesset earlier this week stating that brain and respiratory death were sufficient to declare the patient dead, making the patient a candidate for organ donation.

The law is to go into effect within 14 months.
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Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv and Rabbi Zalman Auerbach Wednesday published a statement in Yated Ne'eman, the newspaper identified with the ultra-Orthodox Lithuanian stream, that said that even if the organs are intended for another "dangerously ill" person, "when the donor's heart is beating and his brain, including the brain-stem, is not functioning at all, known as 'brain-death,' our opinion is that there is no permission to remove any organs and [to do so] constitutes shedding of blood.

"There are people who want to suit the world of Jewish law to the modern world and permit themselves to express opinions against pure Jewish law on serious questions like those involving human life," the rabbis said.

The statement was a veiled criticism of the support for the law of the senior Sephardic authority on Jewish law, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. Yosef backed the law based on understandings reached between representatives of the chief rabbinate and the heath-care system.

"Every Jew knows that only the great leaders of Israel have the authority to decide, especially on serious questions involving Jewish life," the rabbis also wrote.

The anti-Zionist rabbis of the Edah Haredit also criticized the law and Shas, publishing an ad in Jerusalem under the heading "Thou shalt not murder."

Also Wednesday, the family of an 18-year-old girl who had been declared brain-dead at the Meir Hospital, Kfar Sava, decided to donate her organs. The girl remained on life-support for a day while the family sought the advice of rabbis as to whether she could be disconnected from the ventilator.

The head of the Israel Medical Association's ethics bureau, Professor Avinoam Reches, Wednesday called on the chief rabbis to openly support the new law. The previous processes to determine brain death were correct, he said; nevertheless, the medical establishment had bowed to the religious establishment, and now "the chief rabbis should express themselves positively on the issue so the law will serve its public goal."

According to the new law, a machine called a transcranial doppler, which measures blood-flow to the brain, will be used to determine brain death. It was presented at a press conference Tuesday at the Wolfson Medical Center, Holon.



Related articles:
  • Among families of organ donors, much grief and little regret
  • With top rabbis' blessing, Knesset approves organ donation law
  • What will the rabbis do?


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      1.   Transplants save lives, how stupid can they be? 01:54  |  newageblues 27/03/08
      2.   Tragic that they are blocking donation 02:00  |  Aphemia 27/03/08
      3.   Ok, then just 02:11  |  Mark Lincoln 27/03/08
      4.   Did you hear about 03:07  |  Nechama 27/03/08
      5.   organ transplants 03:08  |  Joseph 27/03/08
      6.   Body soul spirit belongs to God 04:26  |  marilyn 27/03/08
      7.   What about Zach Dunlop? 05:57  |  Rabbi Y Lazaros 27/03/08
      8.   Harvesting Organs and Respecting Opinions 06:11  |  Michoel 27/03/08
      9.   no transpalants for the brain dead 07:17  |  odles 27/03/08
      10.   Halachic Organ Donation 08:42  |  Michal 27/03/08
      11.   strange rabbis 08:48  |  Khalid 27/03/08
      12.   Transplantation 08:51  |  The one who knows 27/03/08
      13.   Thank them for their opinion 09:22  |  Murray of Montreal 27/03/08
      14.   to #4 Nechama 09:25  |  one in a million 27/03/08
      15.   Respecting opinions on organ donation 09:37  |  Michoel Lipman 27/03/08
      16.   LINCOLN how exactly does your posting follow from this? 10:35  |  PETER SM 27/03/08
      17.   #3 - Mark avoids the real issue 10:36  |  yitz 27/03/08
      18.   Quality of life vs life. 10:47  |  Wise Saba 27/03/08
      19.   Harvesting broken organs equals better church music 10:52  |  Magnify 27/03/08
      20.   "ONE IN A million". No actually much higher,some say 10* that 10:54  |  PETER SM 27/03/08
      21.   #10 strange rabbis indeed 10:55  |  Daniel Breslauer 27/03/08
      22.   Heard of stem cell growth? 11:03  |  The Archives 27/03/08
      23.   Response to diatribes, per #16 11:05  |  Michoel Lipman 27/03/08
      24.   And who appointed all you people G-D? 11:06  |  Saftala M 27/03/08
      25.   KHALID.These Rabbis have NOTHING to do with it 11:14  |  PETER SM 27/03/08
      26.   "ONE who knows".Think corneal grafts 11:18  |  PETER SM 27/03/08
      27.   The only people who will suffer because of this Fatwa 11:50  |  Chris Linthwaite 27/03/08
      28.   Try reading this 12:11  |  D Hirod 27/03/08
      29.   What is the hell? 12:57  |  Di Wang 27/03/08
      30.   to the one who knows: life is a terminal disease 13:12  |  odles 27/03/08
      31.   Gross and barbaric 13:16  |  AliciaYasmeen 27/03/08
      32.   dead with a heartbeat wise saba 13:18  |  odles 27/03/08
      33.   OK AND NOT OK 13:22  |  indrajaya 27/03/08
      34.   The Epic Failure with No End 13:47  |  L. Epirondius 27/03/08
      35.   Khalid, just the opposite 14:05  |  Shlomo 27/03/08
      36.   "TOP RABBIS"??? Maybe in your book but not in mine 14:11  |  Jay A Friedman 27/03/08
      37.   Harvesting of organs 14:16  |  eli 27/03/08
      38.   INDRAJAYA Mass murder of unarmed students OK?: 14:17  |  PETER SM 27/03/08
      39.   INDRAJAYA Mass murder of unarmed students OK?: 14:17  |  PETER SM 27/03/08
      40.   LINTHWAITE.The law of the State of Israel allows it. 14:22  |  PETER SM 27/03/08
      41.   # 31 alicia 14:34  |  Axel 27/03/08
      42.   Rav Ovadia and Rav Eliyashiv 14:39  |  S Judah 27/03/08
      43.   #40 Peter SM 14:51  |  Chris Linthwaite 27/03/08
      44.   They don`t represent the religious community 15:03  |  ChanahS 27/03/08
      45.   Fools rush in - yet again 17:19  |  Ian 27/03/08
      46.   More nonsense from religious "experts" 17:25  |  John 27/03/08
      47.   R. Auerbach deceased 18:06  |  Gila 27/03/08
      48.   harvesting penises from porn stars 18:26  |  j. wadd 27/03/08
      49.   Nu, quite a clan of rabid rabbis, each in his own style 19:03  |  Esther 27/03/08
      50.   The Rabbis are afraid to provide the supply 20:25  |  Dr Frankenstein 27/03/08
      51.   How should Haaretz deal with Slowman? 20:30  |  Yuval Azoulay 27/03/08
      52.   Can you just feel the hatred of the talkback posters 20:43  |  Jacob Blues 27/03/08
      53.   LINTHWAITE ISRAELI law WILL allow it.You want to create" facts" 21:05  |  PETER SM 27/03/08
      54.   Re: 14 21:12  |  Daniel 27/03/08
      55.   Harvesting of organs 21:23  |  leven5 27/03/08
      56.   Rabbi Moshe Feinstein accepted brain death!! 21:46  |  Dr Eric 27/03/08
      57.   "Brain Dead" is Dead!!! 22:17  |  Shlomo 27/03/08
      58.   The God never talked about this ! 22:17  |  Atilla Karagözoğlu 27/03/08
      59.   jewish law 22:20  |  hollingsworth 27/03/08
      60.   Indrajaya 22:24  |  Atilla Karagözoğlu 27/03/08
      61.   WE CANT LEARN WHAT IS GOOD OR BAD WITHOUT TALKING 22:31  |  ... 27/03/08
      62.   Joining the ranks of the tragically ignorant? 22:51  |  Paul 27/03/08
      63.   Re Jacob #52 23:53  |  Esther 27/03/08
      64.   Re Yuval #51 00:09  |  Esther 28/03/08
      65.   From the brain dead 09:11  |  JW 28/03/08
      66.   No one has right to another`s organs 05:19  |  PK 30/03/08
      67.   #14-1 in million WAKES FROM DEATH REAL MIRACLE 05:34  |  PK 30/03/08
      68.   #33 indrajaya`s brain harvested long ago 05:43  |  PK 30/03/08
      69.   I dare you to print this! 21:54  |  Yechiel Haredi 31/03/08
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