Q. My mother was terminally ill, it was a matter of time according to the doctors. The siblings decided to bring her home and to let her depart in her familiar surroundings, even at the cost of not having the better care in the hospital that could have prolonged her days, was that correct according to the Halacha?
A) This type of question is complex, as there are many factors involved. A competent rabbinic authority that is privy to all the facts should make the decisions. He should also be provided with the medical contacts if he requires additional information.
On a similar question in this forum (129), we wrote Biur Halocho (328,4) states that we permit a Shabbos prohibited act, when there is a chance that it may extend the life of the dangerously ill, even when that act is not directly a cure for his sickness, but only serves to settle his mind, such as turning on or off lights, traveling with him etc. The Talmud Yerushalmi (Klaim 9,3) records a story about the sage Ullah being distressed to tears at the prospect of expiring outside of Eretz Yisroel. In Shmuel (II 19,38) we are told that King David agreed to his elderly and faithful servant Barzilay Hagilady's request to depart this life in his own hometown, rather than follow him in honour to Yerushalaim. The great relevance of the site of ones demise is echoed in the words of Ruth (1,17) to Neomi "Where you die, I will die".
As there is a reasonable expectation that in going home the patient's mind will settle, and that will cause his life to be extended. Being that you can also provide basic nursing and medical care, and since there is no guarantee that attaching the terminally ill to a respirator etc. will extend his life (or that the room and equipment will be available), and there is always concern that being hospitalized could expose this patient to inherent hospital hazards, Horav Shlomo Miller's Shlit"a permits the egress of the patient from the hospital to his home.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit"a.
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