-----Original Message-----
From: The Yeshiva World [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, November 07, 2008 13:24
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Religious Rights at Issue in Hospital Lawsuit To Pull the Plug on
Orthodox Jewish Boy
Religious Rights at Issue in Hospital Lawsuit To Pull the Plug on Orthodox
Jewish Boy
A hearing is scheduled for Monday morning, November 10, in a lawsuit filed
by the Childrens National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. seeking a court
order to terminate the life support of a 12-year-old Jewish boy.
The boy, Motl Brody, whose family resides in Brooklyn, was brought to
Childrens National for treatment of a brain tumor. Tragically, the treatment
did not succeed. The boy is currently breathing with the assistance of a
ventilator, but the hospital asserts that his brain demonstrates no
discernable electrical activity.
The struggle between the hospital and the boys Orthodox Jewish parents comes
down to competing definitions of death. Under the secular law of the
District of Columbia, a person whose brain has irreversibly ceased
functioning is legally dead, and the hospital maintains that the boys
condition meets that legal standard. However, many Orthodox Jewish rabbinic
authorities including the rabbi to whom the boys family turned for guidance
reject the concept of "brain death.? They maintain, as a matter of halacha
(Jewish religious law), that a person whose brain has ceased functioning is
nonetheless alive as long as his heart is still beating, albeit with the
assistance of mechanical respiration.
When the boys parents, Eluzar and Miriam Brody, saw they were heading toward
a conflict with the hospital, they turned to Agudath Israel of America, a
national Orthodox Jewish group that advocates on behalf of religious rights.
Agudath Israels associate general counsel Rabbi Mordechai Biser promptly
reached out to its volunteer legal network, and Jeffrey I. Zuckerman, a
Washington-based lawyer with the firm of Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt and
Mosle LLP, agreed to take on the case pro bono.
As the hospital made preparations to remove the boy from the life-sustaining
machinery late last Sunday night, Agudath Israels Washington Office director
and counsel, Rabbi Abba Cohen, reached a federal judge and persuaded the
hospital to hold off on its plan.
The next day, attorney Zuckerman entered into discussions with the hospitals
attorneys. However, the discussions did not yield a mutually acceptable
outcome, and Chidrens General filed a legal motion seeking authority to
discontinue the boys ventilator and life-sustaining medication.
Mr. Zuckermans response cited the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act,
under which an individuals religious practices must be accommodated, even
when they conflict with a federal law, unless there is a compelling
governmental interest against such accommodation. There is no compelling
governmental interest in this case, according to Mr. Zuckerman, that would
overcome the Brodys religious rights to have their son continue to receive
life support.
Pending the outcome of the court hearing on Monday, the hospital is
continuing to maintain Motl on life support.
Rabbi David Zwiebel, Agudath Israels executive vice president for government
and public affairs, noted that Agudath Israel had been instrumental in
getting legislation enacted in several states requiring health care
facilities to accommodate religious objections to acceptance of "brain
death? as the end of life.
"This case,? he said, "reminds us how important it is to get the medical
establishment to recognize that there is a religious dimension to the
determination of what constitutes human life, and that the beliefs of
individual patients and families must be taken into account in the provision
of life support.?
NOTE FROM YWN:
Askanim (community activists) working on the case have reached out to YWN
and requested that people contact the hospital and demand that they respect
the families wishes.
Childrens National Medical Center:
Main Hospital Address:
111 Michigan Ave., N.W
Washington, D.C 20010
[log in to unmask]@cnmc.org (Subject: DONT TAKE MOTL BRODY OFF LIFE
SUPPORT!)
Volunteer Services: 202-476-2062
Public Relations: 202-476-4500
General Information: 202-476-3000
Advocacy and Community Affairs: 202-476-4930
http://www.childrensnational.org/ContactUs/default.aspx
For the original YWN story, please click on the following link
http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/General+News/25560/UPDATED+(Friday)-+Hos
pital+Asks+to+End+Life+Support+For+NYC+Boy.html
(YWN Desk - NYC)
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