Life and Death Responsibilities in Jewish Biomedical Ethics

When may artificial technologies be used to help create human life? Can abortion be morally right? When should life-sustaining treatment be stopped? How extensive are my responsibilities to support the health care needs of others? Technological and social developments have placed these quesrtion at the center of society's concerns and in the middle of people's lives. Our answers will the shaoe and calues and the institutions of society, and will literally make the difference between life and death for many of its members. The Unites States and other societies have explored these issues through courts and commissions, through legislative debate and private deliberations of conscience. In the Jewish tradition, the central means of addressinf these concerns is through halakhah, or Jewish law. While the insights of halakhah are central to the lives of many Jews, these perspectives have also been found valuable by persons of other faith traditions and secular outlooks. This book presents papers on biomedical ethics that integrate the resources of millennia with the most recent developments in medicine and ethical thought. These include some of the most thoughtful and important works in Hewish medical ethics on such issues as treatment decisions near the end of life, abortion, and reproductive technologies. The importnace of the papers as statements of halakhah is evidenced by their approval by the Rabbinical Assembly's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, halakhic guide for the Conservative movement. Authors include Elliot Dorff, David Feldman, Isaac Klein, Avram Reisned, and Aaron mackler.

Mackler is associate professor in the Department of Theology, Duquesne University.