An appeal was cabled last night to Prime Minister Levi Eshkol by five major American non-Orthodox Jewish organizations asking action to ban autopsies without family consent, except for special situations.
The cable was signed by the American Jewish Committee, the American Jewish Congress and three religious groups — the Rabbinical Assembly, the association of Conservative rabbis; the United Synagogue of America, the association of Conservative synagogues; and the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, the association of Reform synagogues.
At the same time, the Religious Zionists of America approved today a resolution voicing “strong opposition to the indiscriminate and needless increase of post-mortem operations in most of the Israeli hospitals.”
The cable of the five organizations declared that “we are deeply concerned over the continuing acrimonious dispute concerning autopsies in Israel. Motivated solely by humanitarian considerations, we urge adoption in Israel of compassionate procedure prohibiting autopsies without family consent, except in cases under coroner’s jurisdiction, or where there is a threat to public health.”
Rabbi Herschel Schacter, president of the Religious Zionists, told a special meeting of the organization that he had been in constant contact with the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, the religious members of the Cabinet and Parliament, and with Israeli representatives in the United States on the issue. The Religious Zionist protest criticized “the reckless manner in which the problem of autopsies is being handled by the secular parties in the Israeli Government.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
