Removal from Life Support

Question

I am a Noahide seeking an answer to the question, when if ever do you take someone off a ventilator? My 43-year-old son suffered a bad stroke this past weekend. The ICU doctors say he will never be able to come off the ventilator. He is not brain dead but has bleeding of the brain causing pressure within his skull. His mother (my ex-wife) wants the ventilator removed which will result in his death. She has the say so in the ICU concerning my son’s treatments. Please advise what Hashem would want done in this situation?

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Answers

  1. The Just Ask! - AskTheRabbi.org Team

    I am so terribly sorry to hear about your son and my heart goes out to you at this difficult time.

    Judaism teaches that every moment of life is sacrosanct and that certain criteria need to be met before a person may be removed from life-support. What are the criteria in a case you ask about? This is a serious matter and requires someone who is an expert in the Noahide Laws, which I am not, in order to come to a definitive decision. Due to my lack of expertise, I think that you should reach out to your spiritual mentor and ask him, after taking the family dynamics into account, what he feels is the best course of action to take.

    Best wishes from the AskTheRabbi.org Team