Jewish Post, Indianapolis, Marion County, 29 January 1960 — Page 5
Friday, January 29, I960
The National Jewish POST and OPINION
Irate Rabbis Blast Autopsies Performed in Jewish Hospitals
By STL’ART DIM
NEW YORK (P-O)—Irate rabbis are complaining that the organs, tissues and bones of dead members of Jewish families are used in hospital labs and classrooms instead of buried as Jew-
ish law requires.
To narrow the gap between conflicting medical and religious views of autopsy, a group of rabbis and doctors called the “Committee on Autopsies” is investigating post-mortem operations performed in Jewish hos-
pitals.
The problem has two sides. On the one hand hospitals increasingly need for medical research the bodies of persons who die in hospitals. But Jewish law "insists upon the inviolability of the human body—even after death,” explains Rabbi Immanuel Jakobovits of the Fifth Avenue Synagogue, who is chairman of the .autopsy committee. The "Committee on Autopsies” was appointed by the commis sion on synagogue relations of the Federation of Jewish Phil-anthi-opies of New York to examine from the Jewish religious point of view autopsy procedures at Jewish hospitals supported by the Federation. Rabbi Jakobovits said in an interview that his committee hopes to introduce "certain safeguards during autopsy operations to insure showing proper reverence during and after the operation.” After its examination the committee will recommend adoption of procedures to insure that hos pitals meet Jewish religious requirements. The rabbi, who speaks for the committee, said he wanted "to insure relatives of persons who died in Jewish hospitals and who have religious objections to autopsies, that in certain cases rabbinic sanction could be obtained” - Howewver, Judaism does allow autopsy under certain qualified conditions If it would immediately save d life, Jewish law permitted autopsy "The assumption is that if the deceased knew how important it would be to the living, he would have granted permission to perform an autopsy, eliminating the question of desecration of the dead,” Dr. Herbert Ribner, a committee member who is on the staff of Montefiore Hospital, said. The committee found that "the average proportion of patients autopsied in Jewish hospitals in New York is 50 per cent. Strong objectors to autopsy
removed during an autopsy was “disposed of by incineration." According to Jewish belief, burial is not complete until all parts of the body are buried. Hospital officials claim that the dissected parts are often delayed in burial because they are needed in important laboi'atory study. Many Conseiwative and Orthodox rabbis oppose autopsy as a regular hospital^procedure. They claim that the dead deserve an undisturbed peace. They claim also that while the "duty to save human life is important, this is an obligation of the living, not
the dead.”
Howewver, many liberal-mind-ed rabbis sanction autopsy. But, the committee notes, such sanction is granted only when it makes an “immediate contribution to the preservation of the lives of patients suffering from conditions similar to those of the persons to be autopsied.” Based on the committee’s findings, Rabbi Jakobovits is drawing up a list of principles and recommendations to be endorsed by leading rabbinical authorities for submission to hospitals. These broad suggestions will seek to define "the conditions and circumstances” under which autopsies will be rabbinically sanctioned. For example, the committee will make some of the following suggestions on
autopsy:
1. Reduce the autopsy operation to a minimum. 2. Display religious symbols in the operating room to remind doctors that they are dealing with a body created in the image
of God.
3. Bury dissected parts as soon as possible. The suggestions, said the rabbi,
Riot Leader Gets Amnisty JERUSALEM (P-O) — David Ben-Haroush, the leader of the Noi’th African riots last summer in the Haifa slum area, Wadi Salib, was released fi'om jail on a presidential amnesty. He was originally sentenced to two years for his part in the riots.
Over His Head JERUSALEM (P-O) — Mrs. Golda Meir, Israeli Foreign Minister, who just completed a tour of West Africa before taking off again for Paris talks, said one colorfully-robed African leader asked her: "I understand everything about Israel except the Jerusalem swimming pool affair. Could you please explain it 1 o me?”
pens afterwards to parts of the body removed during the operation. Jewish law demands that the dead and any tissues removed from the body be buried in a cemetery "with the least possible delay after death.” The committee found, however, that "in at least four hospitals” the “great majority” of the parts
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“hope to make quite sure that no one who dies in a Jewish hospital will be treated in a manner incompatible with Jewish moral outlook.” What the committee’s final suggestions are and what symbols will be used in the operating x'oom are "unfinished business,” according to the rabbi. Hospitals officials feel they have as much interest in human life as religious leaders. Undoubtedly, the committee finds, every autopsy is "of some value to doctors and renders a potential contribution to medical knowledge.” But the committee also feels that Jewish law could not sanction "as a matter of indiscriminate routine the wholesale disfigurement of all who die in hospitals.” The committee, the rabbi said, will rule that the performance of autopsies should be "related to the urgency of each individual case.”
72 PER CENT WOULD VOTE FOR JEW AS PRESIDENT
By DAVID WACHSTOCK NEW YORK (P-O) — Seventytwo per cent of Americans interviewed aci'oss the U. S. from all walks of life said that they would vote for a Jewish Presidential candidate were he nominated by their party. THIS WAS learned exclusively by this repoUer in an interview with John Felton, assistant editor of the Gallop Poll. The survey found little evi dence of anti-Semitism in the U. S. Around 15,000 persons were interviewed. Those polled were asked the following question: "If your party nominated a generally well qualified man for the Presidential office and he hap pened to be a Jew, would you vote for him?” SEVENTY-TWO per cent said they would vote for a Jewish candidate. This was an increase of 10 per cent over the year 1958 Felton said that this was indicative of a general decline in religious pi'ejudice. A total of nine per cent of the Jews said they would not vote
for a fellow Jew. Felton attributed this to the fear of being branded bigots. He said that this was not a peculiarity of Jews alone, but applied equally as well to Catholics. A total of nine percent of Catholics said they would not vote for a fellow Catholic. FELTON asserted that surveys have shown that Jews are the most tolerant group in the U. 3. Sixty-seven per cent of the Jews interviewed said that they would vote for a Negro candidate. Only 33 per cent Protestant and 34 per cent of the Catholics said they would vote for a Negro. Pie said that attitudes towards Jews and Catholics were interrelated. Around the same percentage of persons who said that they would not vote for a Jew, said they would not vote for a Catholic. HE SAID that the Gallop Poll was giving serious thought to making an extensive poll to get at the real attitude toward Jews,
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