Two Jewish Groups Back Patient Autonomy

(JTA) — Two Orthodox Jewish organizations filed a brief in the case of a brain-dead man whose family wanted to keep him on life support despite doctors’ wishes.

Agudath Israel of America and the Rabbinical Council of America filed an amicus brief Monday that laid out the case for patient autonomy. It cites numerous cases in which courts ruled that patients and their families have the right to refuse life-sustaining medical care despite objections from the patient’s health care providers. The brief alleges that in effect, the hospital is asserting that patients have a right to choose to die but not to live.

The man, Ruben Betancourt, 73, suffered oxygen deprivation during surgery in March and was declared to be in a persistent

vegetative state. His daughter wanted to keep him on life support, but doctors claimed that they alone should have the right to decide when a patient is meaningfully alive.

The New Jersey Superior Court determined that Betancourt’s daughter had the right to decide her father’s care, a decision the hospital appealed. Betancourt died before the appeal was heard.

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