Jean-Pierre Wils

‘We are (not) the master of our body’: elderly Jewish women's attitudes towards euthanasia and assisted suicide

Objectives. In Belgium, dominant ideological traditions – Christianity and non-religious humanism – have the floor in debates on euthanasia and hardly any attention is paid to the practices and attitudes of ethnic and religious minorities, for instance, Jews. This article aims to meet this lacuna. Design. Qualitative empirical research was performed in the Orthodox Jewish community of Antwerp (Belgium) with a purposive sample of elderly Jewish (non-)Hasidic and secularised Orthodox women. In-depth interviews were conducted to elicit their attitudes towards (non-)voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide. Results. The research reveals diverse views among women in the community on intentionally terminating a patients life. Absolute rejection of every act which deliberately terminates life is found among the overwhelming majority of (religiously observant) Orthodox (Hasidic and non-Hasidic) women, as they have an unconditional faith and trust in Gods sovereign power over the domain of life and death. On the other hand, the views of secularised Orthodox women – mostly irreligious women, who do not consider themselves Orthodox, thus not following Jewish law, yet say they belong to the Orthodox Jewish community –show an acceptance of voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide but non-voluntary euthanasia is approached more negatively. As they perceive illness and death as merely profane facts, they stress a patients absolute right towards self-determination, in particular with regard to ones end of life. Among non-Hasidic Orthodox respondents, more openness is found for cultivating a personal opinion which deviates from Jewish law and for the right of self-determination with regard to questions concerning life and death. In this study, these participants occupy an intermediate position. Conclusion. Our study reveals an interplay between ethical attitudes on euthanasia and religious convictions. The image one has of a transcendental reality, or of God, has a stronger effect on ones (dis)approval of euthanasia than being (ir)religious.

Orthodox Jewish perspectives on withholding and withdrawing life-sustaining treatment

The Jewish religious tradition summons its adherents to save life. For religious Jews preservation of life is the ultimate religious commandment. At the same time Jewish law recognizes that the agony of a moribund person may not be stretched. When the time to die has come this has to be respected. The process of dying should not needlessly be prolonged. We discuss the position of two prominent Orthodox Jewish authorities – the late Rabbi Moshe Feinstein and Rabbi J David Bleich – towards the role of life-sustaining treatment in end-of-life care. From the review, the characteristic halachic and heterogeneous character of Jewish ethical reasoning appears. The specificity of Jewish dealing with ethical dilemmas in health care indicates the importance for contemporary healthcare professionals of providing care which is sensitive to a patient’s culture and worldview.

‘There is a Time to be Born and a Time to Die’ (Ecclesiastes 3:2a): Jewish Perspectives on Euthanasia

Reviewing the publications of prominent American rabbis who have (extensively) published on Jewish biomedical ethics, this article highlights Orthodox, Conservative and Reform opinions on a most pressing contemporary bioethical issue: euthanasia. Reviewing their opinions against the background of the halachic character of Jewish (biomedical) ethics, this article shows how from one traditional Jewish textual source diverse, even contradictory, opinions emerge through different interpretations. In this way, in the Jewish debate on euthanasia the specific methodology of Jewish (bio)ethical reasoning comes forward as well as a diversity of opinion within Judaism and its branches.

“It's in God's Hands”: The Attitudes of Elderly Muslim Women in Antwerp, Belgium, Toward Active Termination of Life

Background: The influence of Islam is increasing in Western societies due to different migration waves. Migrants originating from Islamic countries are confronted with a dominant right to self-determination mentality in the West, which affects attitudes regarding a number of issues, such as those surrounding death. Methods: In-depth interviews were conducted with 30 first-generation Muslim women who migrated to Belgium from Turkey and Morocco between the early 1960s and early 1980s, with the aim of eliciting their attitudes toward active termination of life. Results: We found a huge contrast with the secular right-to-die discourse, which is quite dominant in the West. Among the participants, we elicited a predominantly negative attitude toward (non)voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide. We observed that participants displayed a theological line of reasoning when dealing with these bioethical issues similar to the one offered in normative Islamic guidance (e.g., fatwas). Conclusions: The study shows an important and complex impact of religion, specifically ones image of God, on attitudes toward active termination of life, and points to the danger of adopting a simplistic and non-nuanced approach to Islam.

American Jewish approaches to contemporary ethical issues in medicine: the case of organ retrieval from brain-dead donors

Abstract World wide, hospitals have to deal with a considerable shortage of organs for transplantation. Since the brain death criteria were issued by the Harvard Medical School in 1968, most organs are retrieved from heart-beating brain-dead donors. Judaism stresses the huge value of human life, as human beings are created in Gods image, and the commandment is to save and preserve life. There is, however, considerable debate in Judaism on the acceptability of using organs retrieved from heart-beating brain-dead patients and it is disputed whether the extraction of these organs should be considered murderous. Should this be the case, then the practice would imply a transgression of the central Jewish prohibition to kill. In this way, the debate evolves around the conflict between the Jewish commitment to save life and the worry to take life. Our analysis reveals the specificity of Jewish ethical reasoning, its text-centeredness and heterogeneous character.