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Fellow Weekly - Issue 119
WHAT'S THE LAW ™
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Encouraging intelligent and entertaining debate at your Shabbat table.
Fellow Weekly raises issues of business law and ethics through lively emails by featuring your real-life scenarios answered by our leading authorities and professionals.
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Case # 225 Organic Transplants: Of Hearts & Palms
With a score of experience in geriatric medicine, physician Roy Feldman M.D.'s Roy Center, a cutting edge and state-of- the- art geriatric center, earned prestige and renown throughout the Sunshine State. The local pensioners along the Fort Lauderdale waterfront enjoyed the professionalism, respectfulness and personal touch so indicative of the Roy Center.
Roy and his staff provided primary, geriatric care, counseling, and guidance in long-term planning.
Though still in the prime of her life, Lori Lehman continued to fight for her life ever since her tragic boating accident. Lori had previously discussed with Roy the possibility of donating her heart to his patient, her 63 year old mom should she pass away suddenly, as her mom was on line for a transplant.
Adjacent to the Roy Center; stood the doctor's stunning waterfront estate home. His residence boasted four large bedrooms, with a downstairs master suite, four luxury baths, formal living and dining rooms, a family room and a gourmet kitchen with custom cabinetry, stainless appliances, granite counters and center island.
The dramatic 16' ceilings, impact windows and doors offered wide water views. The private backyard lined with Sylvester date palms and a covered veranda overlooking the water offered a tranquil setting away from the pressures at work.
As the Feldman kids grew up and left home, Roy and his wife entertained the idea of enhancing their estate whereby clearing some palms to make way for a sparkling private pool.
May / ShouldLori donate her heart to her Mom?
May Roy clear away the Sylvesters to make room for the pool?
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FROM OUR INBOX
Case # 226
Withholding plans from an employer that one is contemplating leaving.
Unless things change drastically, I will be leaving my company within one year. Yesterday my boss (who sits behind me in shul) discussed company paid for training over the next year. Of course the company would be wasting money if I take courses and then leave. I have no desire to cause them a loss. On the other hand, if I disclose my plans before the customary period, I could lose things like commissions, choice assignments, salary increase, pension credits and may be even terminated with little severance pay. What do I do?
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Case # 224 Acupuncture: East vs. West
Acupuncture is a type of alternative medicine that treats patients by insertion and manipulation of solid, generally thin needles in the body.
Its general theory is based on the premise that bodily functions are regulated by the flow of an energy-like entity called qi.
Acupuncture aims to correct imbalances in the flow of qi by stimulation of anatomical locations on or under the skin called acupuncture points, most of which are connected by channels known as meridians.
The amount of pain, when administered properly, very often depends on the needle sizes which apparently vary between China and Japan.
Whether acupuncture is an effective cure is subject to continuous international debate. Proponents of acupuncture believe that it promotes general health, relieves pain, treats infertility, treats and prevents disease.
Critics of acupuncture claim that scientific research has not found it effective for anything but the relief of some types of pain and nausea.
Some maintain that acupuncture is merely psychological and there is no difference whether the practitioner punctures the designated acupuncture points or random points.
And yet others claim that it acupuncture is mystical, noting that Chinese medicine forbade dissection, and as a result the understanding of how the body functioned was based on a system that related to the world around the body rather than its internal structures.
The 365 "divisions" of the body were based on the number of days in a year, and the 12 meridians proposed in the TCM system are thought to be based on the 12 major rivers that run through China.
As Acupuncture has been practiced for generations in the East, yet its general effectiveness has yet to have been scientifically proven, may one elect to undergo acupuncture in order to alleviate acute pain or to as a preventative measure to avert disease?
What's the Law?
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The Answer
We present you here with a concise ruling. For a more intricate elucidation, please see the detailed explanation below.
It is permissible. |
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Detailed Explanation
Acupuncture East vs. West invokes the following law.
1. Inflicting pain or physical damage to one's body is permissible in the reasonable hope of sparing oneself from a more severe physical (e.g. resetting a broken limb) or severe emotional pain (e.g. elective plastic surgery). [Shevet Halevi, Shulchan Aruch HaRav, Igros Moshe Choshen Mishpat II: 65, Riv'vos Ephraim VIII: 389].
Application
If the procedure is commonly practiced and reasonably successful, it is not different than any other medical practice even if the scientific world has yet to prove its efficiency.
People of repute who have elected to undergo acupuncture treatment, have told me that a good practitioner should cause no pain and let no blood. In such instances, the question does not begin.
[Dayan Chaim Kohn]
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Note:
Although we aim to present the correct ruling, varying details are always important and decisively influence every individual case. Our readers are thus encouraged to present their personal cases to a competent authority and not solely rely on the information provided.
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