Doctors Try to Convince Rabbi Death Occurs when Brain Fails

Hebrew University doctors performed a striking experiment recently, aimed at proving to an influential Orthodox sage that brain death, not stoppage of heartbeat, is the best determinant of when death occurs.

They may have succeeded, at least partly, in convincing Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, a leading halachic authority, to modify his views, which have deterred many families from donating the organs of deceased members for transplant.

The doctors delivered a healthy lamb from a headless ewe 30 minutes after the female sheep was decapitated and indisputably dead.

The sheep’s heart was kept beating by artificial means while a Caesarian section was performed.

Auerbach, who commands wide respect beyond the strictly Orthodox haredi community to which he belongs, has insisted that death occurs only at the moment the heart stops beating. This is consistent with halacha, or Jewish law.

He has held to that position even after the Chief Rabbinate conceded in a halachic ruling that brain death should also be considered in determining death.

The doctors pointed out that if the heart and other vital organs can be kept to function after death, their failure does not necessarily signify the moment of death.

A healthy heart taken from a newly deceased person must be kept beating artificially if it is to be transplanted. But many Israeli families cling to the halachic interpretation and will not agree to donate the organs of a loved one.

It is especially true at stressful times when people who are not observant themselves often seek solace in religious injunctions. That phenomenon was documented several months ago in an Israeli medical journal, Refuah.

According to media accounts, the doctors intend to follow up the sheep experiment with others designed to prove that it is possible to establish when every brain cell is dead.

Auerbach has been concerned in the past that medical determinations of brain death cover a substantial portion but not all of the brain. He has asked for medical evidence of total cessation of brain function.

But according to these accounts, the rabbi now accepts that a brain-dead person falls under the halachic definition of a “gossess” — someone who is dying.

He is not yet prepared to permit the removal of an organ from such a person. But in situations where the availability of life-sustaining equipment is limited, he would agree that a “gossess” forgoes the right to be sustained by such equipment.