Halachic Organ donor Society, 3926 W. Touhy Ave, Suite #365, Lincolnwood, IL, 60712-1028. Phone: 646-599-3895, Email: office@hods.org

Articles

Below you will find articles by rabbis, doctors and scholars about the halachic and medical issues surrounding brain-stem death and organ donation. Some articles are pro organ donation and some are con. We believe by showing all positions, we can allow the public to judge for themselves where they stand on these issues.

  1. Title: Autopsies II – The National Jewish Hospital for Consumptives
    Author: Farber, Rabbi Dr. Zev; Angel, Rabbi Dr. Marc Angel, etc.
    Publication: Halakhic Realities
    Year: 2017
    Download: English  
    HOD Comment:

     

  2. Title: Killinig by Organ Procurement: Brain-Based Death and Legal Fictions
    Author: Veatch, Robert M.
    Publication: Journal of Medicine and Philosophy
    Year: 2015
    Download: English  
    HOD Comment:

     

  3. Title: Scientific, legal, and ethical challenges of end-of-life organ procurement in emergency medicine
    Author: Rady, Mohamed Y. , Verheijde, Joseph L. and McGregor, Joan L.
    Publication: Resuscitation
    Year: 2010
    Download: English  
    HOD Comment:

     

  4. Title: Autopsies in the Modern Age
    Author: Rosman, MD, Jonathan
    Publication: The Journal of Halacha
    Year: 2013
    Download: English  
    HOD Comment:

     

  5. Title: Deactivating Implantable Pacemakers and Defibrillators in Terminally Ill Patients
    Author: Rosman, MD, Jonathan
    Publication: The Journal of Halacha
    Year: 2011
    Download: English  
    HOD Comment:

     

  6. Title: Brain Death – Moving Beyond Consistency in the Diagnostic Criteria
    Author: Truog, MD, Robert D.; Krishnamurthy, MSSB, DM; Jandamaran; Tasker, MA, MD,MBBS, Robert C.
    Publication: American Medical Association
    Year: 2020
    Download: English  
    HOD Comment:

     

  7. Title: Determination of Brain Death/Death by Neurologic Criteria – The World Brain Death Project
    Author: Greer, MD, MA, David M.
    Publication: JAMA
    Year:
    Download: English  
    HOD Comment:

     

  8. Title: Is “Vital Motion” A Halakhic Concept?
    Author: Bedzow, Ira; Stadlan, Noam; Loike, John
    Publication: Touro Law Review
    Year: 2020
    Download: English  
    HOD Comment:

     

  9. Title: Brain Death—Moving Beyond Consistency in the Diagnostic Criteria
    Author: Truog, MD, MA, Robert D.; Krishnamurthy, MBBS, DM, Kandamaran; Tasker, MA, MD, MBBS, Robert C.
    Publication: JAMA
    Year: 2020
    Download: English  
    HOD Comment:

     

  10. Title: Religion and Brain Death: Managing Requests to Forego a Brain Death Evaluation or Continue Somatic Support after Brain Death
    Author: Ariane Lewis, MD, Panayiotis Varelas, MD, PhD, James L. Bernat, MD, Mehmet Akif Topcuoglu, MD, Gene Sung, MD, MPH, Sam D. Shemie, MD, Sylvia Torrance, BSc, and David Greer, MD, MA
    Publication: American Medical Journal
    Year: 2020
    Download: English  
    HOD Comment:

     

  11. Title: we shouldn’t wait for heaven: how head/body transplantation causes us to reevaluate halakhic conceptions of life and death
    Author: Bedzow, Ira; Loike, John, and Stadlan, Noam
    Publication: Journal of Law and Religion
    Year: 2020
    Download: English  
    HOD Comment:

    In this article, the authors examine how the potential success of head/body transplantation
    raises questions as to how halakha—Jewish law and jurisprudence—might draw the line
    between determining whether a person is dead or alive. In presenting the primary
    Talmudic passages that refer to determination of life and death, and their discussion
    among halakhists and halakhic decisors, the authors show how the halakha might determine the demarcation between life and death as it applies to head/body transplants or potentially other innovations in medical technology.

     

  12. Title: Allocation of Scarce Resources During the COVID-19 Pandemic: a Jewish Ethical Perspective
    Author: Solnica, Amy; Barski, Leonid; Jotkowitz, Alan
    Publication:
    Year: 2020
    Download: English  
    HOD Comment:

     

  13. Title: A Question of Life and Death

    Download: English
    Author: le Roux-Kemp, Andre
    Publication: XLVI CILSA
    Year: 2013

     

  14. Title: Professor Gert’s Views on Death: An Analysis of Critique

    Download: English
    Author: Nair-Collins, Michael
    Publication: American Philosophical Association Newsletter on Philosophy and Medicine
    Year: 2013

     

  15. Title: Brain Death as the End of a Human Organism as a Self-Moving Whole

    Download: English

    Author:
    Publication: Journal of Medicine and Philosophy
    Year:

     

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