14 October 24, 1975 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS NEW CADILLAC? BUY OR LEASE FROM ANDY BLAU in BIRMINGHAM at WILSON-CRISSMAN CADILLAC RES. 642-6836 CALL BUS. MI 4-1930 1350 N. WOODWARD, BIRMINGHAM Jersey Case Stirs Religious Debate Over Jewish Laws and Euthanasia NEW YORK (JTA) — Three rabbinical experts, have expressed separate conflicting opinions on whether Jewish law would Annual Invitational I Ann Arbor Winter Art fair OCT. 31, NOV. 1 & 2, 1975 Time: FRI . & SAT. 10A .M . - 9 P .M . SUN. 10 A.M. - 6 P.M. - 'Ar; U OF M TRACK & TENNIS BLDG. LOCATED ON FERRY FIELD (ON STATE ST. TWO BLOCKS SOUTH OF PACKARD) TAKE 1-94 TO STATE RD. EXIT NO ADMISSION CHARGE TO FAIR 250 ARTISTS AND CRAFTSMEN $1.00 PARKING ON FERRY FIELD sanction the plea of the par- ents of a 21-year-old New Jersey woman foi removal of a respirator which has sustained her life processes for more than five months. Karen Ann Quinlan has suffered irreversible brain damage, according to doc- tors at St. Glare's Hospital in Denville, N.J., where she is in a coma. The three are Rabbi Nor- man Lamm, spiritual leader of the Jewish Center in Manhattan and professor of Jewish philosophy at Yesh- iva University; Rabbi Sey- mour Siegel, chairman of the committee on Jewish Law and standards.of the Rabbinical Assembly, the association of Conservative rabbis; and Rabbi Joseph Perman, spiritual leader of the Free Synagogue of Westchester in Mount Ver- non, and chairman of the subcommittee on bio-ethics of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the asso- ciation of Reform rabbis. Rabbi Lamm said that the parents "simply are not a party to the case from the point of view of COVENANT CREDIT UNION (Serving B'Nai Brith Members) WANTS YOU!! The following is a partial list of services we can offer you. 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He declared that "the gen- eral principle of the Hala- cha with regard to the case itself is that we are not re- quired to utilize heroic mea- sures to prolong the life of hopelessly sick patients but we are forbidden to termi- nate the use of such mea- sures once they have be- gun." Rabbi Siegel said the basic question is whether the woman is to be consid- ered dead or still alive, though in a coma. In tradi- tional Judaism, he said, the criteria for determining death have been "the cessa- tion of respiratory functions and the cessation of heart beat." These criteria repre- sented "the best scientific knowledge of the day" and once those functions stopped, the person was judged to be dead, he said. Rabbi Siegel added that, in the judgement of Ortho- dox "decisors," these,cri- teria "should not be changed since they have been enshrined in the tra- ditional texts." But "in the judgement of more lib- eral decisors, such as those affiliated with Con- servative and Reform Ju- daism, the criteria for death should–reflect the best scientific knowledge of the time, not dogmatic principles." euthanasia. He said there was a distinction between action and passive euthana- sia. Active euthanasia is ac- tion to stop life or permit- ting a person to die." Removing the respirator would be a situation of pas- sive euthanasia, which he said would be permitted if medical opinion is that the woman is dead. Since active euthanasia is forbidden, the respirator may not be re- moved if the person is held to be alive. Rabbi Perman agreed that traditional Jewish law does not speak of brain death because this was be- yond the limits of medical knowledge at the time it was written. In any event, he added, "we do not need to go beyond the law; we need to get behind it and try to understand the ethical sen- sitivity and human compas- sion that has determined all Jewish bio-ethical deci- sions. ,' Rabbi Perman said it was his understanding that there was no present hope for a cure for Miss Quinlan nor any possibil-' ity of returning her to a normal relatively healthy life. The question, he said, was "whether artificially to prolong her condition or not to prolong it. We ought not to do it." He said it could not be "ethically justifiable to ex- tend a vegetable state for weeks, let alone months" and that no patient "should have to suffer such indign- ity, regardless of state of consciousness." Rabbi Perman also con- At the present time, he tended that "no parents, said, "there is near consen- whether natural or adop- sus in the scientific commu- tive, should ever have to beg nity that 'brain death' does that their child's life be indeed indicate the cessa- taken. To my mind, there is tion of human life" and that no possible good to outweigh therefore, the "basis for de- the anguish of these cir- cision in this vital area has cumstances." Quoting Ec- been established." clesiastes that "there is a On the assumption that time to live and a time to Miss Quinlan is not-dead by die." Rabbi Perman de- current medical standards, clared "there is also a time the next question, Rabbi_ to let live and, in this case, Siegel said, is the issue of to let die." Dulzin Asks Non-Interference in Political Battle for Position JERUSALEM (JTA) — Leon Dulzin, acting chair- man of the Jewish Agency and World Zionist Organi- zation Executives, asked Premier Yitzhak Rabin not to interfere in the elections for the chairmanship which Dulzin is contesting with Haifa Mayor Yosef Almogi, the Labor Party's candi- date. Dulzin, who is - a- leader of Likud, reminded Rabin that he was Premier of all Israel and not just of the Labor Party. Dulzin expressed confid- ence that he would win the election but conceded that the contest would be decided by a slender margin and there was no way to predict how it would go. He said Ra- bin was risking his prestige by supporting one candidate over another. Dulzin said he did not object to the Labor Party nominating its own candi- date but did object 'to that party's claim in effect that the WZO-Jewish Agency chairmanship "belonged" to it. The two previous chairmen, the late Pinhas Sapir and the late Louis Pincus, were both mem- bers of the Labor Party. The Zionist Organization of America's Zionist Infor- mation News Service (ZINS) reported that Israel's three independent daily newspa- pers have endorsed Dulzin. The papers are Haaretz,_ Yediot Ahronot and Maariv.