Jewish ethics: How much risk must a doctor take on? Physicians have been treating contagious diseases for millennia. As a result, the death toll in the medical profession has been high in times of epidemic. What does the Torah teach us about the obligation of the physician to treat weighed against the prohibition of endangering one's life?
Dr. Daniel Eisenberg examines what Judaism says about
required risks for doctors, using the context of the epidemics like SARS and AIDS.
Does the physician have to endanger his own life to treat a patient with a dangerous contagious disease?
...While mandated to heal, the Torah also commands him to zealously guard his own health. The doctor must ask himself the question: May I expose myself to a questionable danger to save someone else from a definite danger? The answer to that question is the subject of dispute.
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