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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: Source Material (Biblical & Rabbinic)

    Author: Compiled by Rosh Kehilah Dina Najman Licht
    Publication:
    Year: 2002
    Download: English

    HOD Comments:
    List of organ transplantation primary sources.~~

     

  2. Title: Addendum to: As Good As Dead: Is There Really Such a Thing as Brain Death

    Author: unknown
    Publication: New Yorker, The
    Year: 2002, 8/13 circa
    Download: English

    HOD Comments:
    This article reviews a longer article that deals with the questions of whether brain-death is actually a natural, biological state, or whether it is merely a legal fiction created for the purpose of legally allowing organ transplants.  He summarizes two arguments that have been made to support it being a natural biological state and identifies the weaknesses in each.  Ultimately, the author suggests that we should think of organ transplantation as a conscious choice by the patient or their family to terminate their life to save another, rather than insisting on waiting until after brain death, which the author seems to view as a somewhat arbitrary criterion.~~

     

  3. Title: Cadavaric Organ Transplantation

    Author: Halperin, M.D., Rabbi Mordechai
    Publication: Conference on Medicine, Ethics, and Jewish Law
    Year: ~~
    Download: Hebrew

    HOD Comments:

     

  4. Title: Organ Transplants

    Author: Bleich, Rabbi J. David
    Publication: Judaism and Healing
    Year: 2002
    Download: English

    HOD Comments:
    KTAV Publishing House~~

     

  5. Title: Halachic Questions: Heart Transplants

    Author: Cohen, Rabbi J. Simcha
    Publication: Jewish Press, The
    Year: 1995, Friday, 30 June~~
    Download: English

    HOD Comments:

     

  6. Title: Jewish Perspectives on Death and Dying

    Author: Rosner, Dr. Fred
    Publication: Journal of Halacha and Contemporary Society/XI, The; also ASSIA, V. II, #1, 1991
    Year: 1986, Spring / Pesach 5746~~
    Download: English

    HOD Comments:

     

  7. Title: Moment of Death

    Author: Steinberg, Prof. Avraham
    Publication: Encyclopedia of Jewish Medical Ethics
    Year: ?
    Download: English Hebrew

    HOD Comments:
    The Hebrew was translated into English by Dr. Fred Rosner~~

     

  8. Title: Medical Aspects of Brain Death

    Author: Keilson, Dr. Marshall
    Publication: Journal of Halacha and Contemporary Society/XVII, The
    Year: 1989, Spring / Pesach 5749
    Download: English

    HOD Comments:
    This article reviews some of the clinical aspects of brain-death in order to allow poskim to make an informed decision as to whether it would be sufficient for Halachic death.  In addition, the article begins with a discussion of the importance of determining the precise moment of death and the ethical advantages that the secular ethics community believes are present in the brain-death standard.~~

     

  9. Title: Tests to Determine the Time of Brain Death

    Author: Unknown
    Publication: Unknown
    Year: Unknown
    Download: English

    HOD Comments:
    This article consists of three parts.  The first is a discussion of the clinical criteria for diagnosing brain-death.  The second part of the article deals with the position of the Israeli Chief Rabbinate with regard to brain-death.  In 1985, after consultation with physicians, the Chief Rabbinate ruled that the current medical procedure for diagnosing brain-death was sufficient for determining a patient to be considered dead halachically, and therefore permit donating their vital organs.  They did, however, require that a representative of the Chief Rabbinate be present for each individual case to ensure that proper halachic procedure was actually being followed.  The third part of the article addresses the position of Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach.

     

  10. Title: Brain Death II: A Status Report of Legal Considerations

    Author: Veith, Frank, MD; Jack Fein MD; Moses Tendler PhD; Robert Veatch PhD; Marc Kleiman JD, LLM; George Kalkines JD
    Publication: Journal of the American Medical Association
    Year: 17-Oct-77
    Download: English

    HOD Comments:
    The second of this two-part article provides legal arguments for the recognition of brain death as legally legitimate in accordance with medical understanding at the time. There is also a helpful overview of relevant case and state law at the time. The article concludes with a call for nationwide legal recognition of a brain death standard and its importance in protecting those called upon to make these decisions.~~

     

  11. Title: Source Material (Biblical & Rabbinic)
    Author: Compiled by Rosh Kehilah Dina Najman Licht
    Publication:
    Year: 2002
    Download: English  
    HOD Comment:

    List of organ transplantation primary sources. 

     

  12. Title: Medical Aspects of Brain Death
    Author: Keilson, Dr. Marshall
    Publication: Journal of Halacha and Contemporary Society/XVII, The
    Year: 1989, Spring / Pesach 5749
    Download: English  
    HOD Comment:

    This article reviews some of the clinical aspects of brain-death in order to allow poskim to make an informed decision as to whether it would be sufficient for Halachic death.  In addition, the article begins with a discussion of the importance of determining the precise moment of death and the ethical advantages that the secular ethics community believes are present in the brain-death standard.

     

  13. Title: Success in Opt-In Organ Donation Policy in the United States
    Author: Glazier, JD, MPH, Alexandra and Mone, MS, Thomas
    Publication: JAMA
    Year: 2019
    Download: English  
    HOD Comment:

     

  14. Title: Brain Death II: A Status Report of Legal Considerations
    Author: Veith, Frank, MD; Jack Fein MD; Moses Tendler PhD; Robert Veatch PhD; Marc Kleiman JD, LLM; George Kalkines JD
    Publication: Journal of the American Medical Association
    Year: October 17, 1977
    Download: English  
    HOD Comment:

    The second of this two-part article provides legal arguments for the recognition of brain death as legally legitimate in accordance with medical understanding at the time. There is also a helpful overview of relevant case and state law at the time. The article concludes with a call for nationwide legal recognition of a brain death standard and its importance in protecting those called upon to make these decisions.

     

  15. Title: The Origins of the Precept “Whoever Saves a Life Saves the World”
    Author: Philologos
    Publication: Mosaic Magazine
    Year: 2016
    Download: English  
    HOD Comment:

     

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